Background
The faculty of Educational and Behavioral Sciences (FEBS) is one of the well-established faculties, which was evolved from the former Pedagogical Sciences Department. The history of Pedagogical Sciences (PdSc) department is as old as the history of Bahir Dar University (BDU). PdSc Department, the then Academy of Pedagogy, was established in 1972, by the tripartite agreement of the Imperial Government Ministry of Education and Fine Arts, in collaboration with UNESCO and UNDP. The department of Pedagogical Sciences has made tremendous changes in the course of those years. The current Faculty of Educational and Behavioral Sciences is, thus, the outcome of the then Pedagogical Sciences department.
According to the UNDP, UNESCO and Ethiopian project document, the basic proposals included that an institute for the education of primary teacher-educators be established at Bahir Dar under the leadership of the MOE and was called the Ethiopian Academy of pedagogy; the nucleus of which is the department of pedagogical science.
The department, therefore, started to train learners in the field of pedagogical sciences as a major study area since 1973 when Academy of Pedagogy was inaugurated under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Fine Arts. Its general purpose was, thus, to train multipurpose primary education professionals capable of adopting primary education to rural life and rural development. Therefore, the major impetus to the inception of the Academy of pedagogy was quality of education, shortage of teacher educators and Ethiopianization of the staff of the TTIs.
Later in 1977/8, the first course catalogue containing the four-year degree program was produced, which included Amharic, English, Geography and Mathematics as minor areas of study till 1999. The department has once again decided to upgrade the minor area subjects into major areas. After making training needs assessment all over the country, the department changed its major-minor training into composite major training. Since 2000, the department started to provide a Composite Major bachelors degree in Pedagogical Sciences and in one of the pre existing subject areas. This has stayed for the last ten years.
In order to reform its programs, the Department, starting from the year 2006/07, conducted an extensive needs assessment on the availability of graduates who could work in different areas of the education sector. The needs assessment result revealed that there is high scarcity of adequately trained individuals who could work as School Psychologists, Special Needs Experts, Adult Educators and Community Developers, Educational Administrators and Curriculum Experts in different institutions and at different levels of government structure. Furthermore, since 2005, the department has launched Master’s degree program in fields of Educational Psychology, Curriculum Studies, Educational Leadership, Educational Planning and Management and Principalship.
In 2008, consequently, pedagogical sciences department has been upgraded from department to Faculty level with its name the Faculty of Educational and Behavioral Sciences (FEBS). Currently, FEBS has launched 5 undergraduate, 7 postgraduate, 1 Postgraduate Diploma and 2 PhD programs that would satisfy the huge demand of qualified human resource in the area.
Vision, Mission and Goals of FEBS
Below is presented the vision, missions and goals of the faculty & the 5 programs:
Vision of FEBS
FEBS strives to become center of excellence in education and behavioral sciences by enhancing equity, relevance and quality in education of all levels throughout the country.
Missions of FEBS
- Providing high quality education in the fields of studies
- Producing high quality trained professionals who are able to contribute for the quality of education in the country
- Conducting basic and applied researches that are problem solving as well as knowledge generating in education
- Providing appropriate community services
Goals of FEBS
- To provide Ph.D. level quality education and training in Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies
- To provide master level quality education and training in Educational Psychology, Educational Planning & Management & Curriculum Studies