Professional Programs was established in 1972 as one of the three functional program areas that replaced the faculty's previously independent centres and departments during the re-organization of that year. It was the successor to the Professional Foundations Centre, taking over responsibility for the teacher-certification component of the Faculty of Education at SFU, and it continues as an active division of the faculty as of this writing (July 2008).

From the opening of the university in 1965, the Faculty of Education has offered the Professional Development Program (PDP). Students could apply for PDP admission after completing a certain number of undergraduate credits at SFU or another university and, upon completion of the program, were recommended for the provincial Teachers' Certificate (granted originally by government's Department of Education, after 1974 by the British Columbia College of Teachers). The PDP program at SFU was initially administered by the Department of Professional Foundations in the Educational Foundations Centre, later (1970) becoming its own centre (Professional Foundations Centre). In 1972 responsibility for the program was carried over to faculty's new Professional Programs division. While PDP requirements and curricula have evolved over the years, it's basic structure has consistently been a three-semester program involving two core courses (EDUC 401/402), a semester of supervised classroom experience, and a semester of supplementary course programming. The faculty uses a "differentiated" or "complementary" staffing model which teams tenure-track faculty members with seconded teachers selected from school districts throughout the province. In the early 1970s the faculty initiated a decentralization of the program, enabling students to complete some of their requirements in communities outside of the Lower Mainland. In 2006, the Professional Qualifications Program (PQP) was established, a three-semester program for those wishing to re-certify their teaching credentials.