Department of Education

History

The first Professorship in education and didactics was established at the University of Helsinki in 1852. It was the first Professorship in its field in the Nordic countries. The chair was first placed in the Faculty of Theology, but it was subsequently transferred to the Faculty of Arts in 1859.

Since 1937, there have been two Professorships in education at the University: one with Finnish and the other with Swedish as the language of instruction. A Professorship in education, with special emphasis on adult education, was established on 1 September 1980.

The Department of Education was founded in 1955. The Department was transferred from the Division of Arts to the Division of Education (established in 1974) in the Faculty of Philosophy. The Division of Education became the Faculty of Education in 1992. A new Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, consisting of former Faculty of Education as well as Department of Psychology and Department of Speech Sciences from Faculty of Arts, was established on 1st of January 2004.