Fonds F-233 - Faculty of Education fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Faculty of Education fonds

General material designation

  • Photographic materials
  • Sound recordings
  • Architectural drawings
  • Moving images
  • Textual records

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Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Title of the fonds is based on the name of of the fonds creator.

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

F-233

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Edition statement of responsibility

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1963 - 2005 (Creation)
    Creator
    Faculty of Education

Physical description area

Physical description

9.77 m of textual records
141 photographs
545 slides
14 contact sheets
57 sound recordings
30 moving images

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1965 - )

Administrative history

The Faculty of Education was one of the three founding faculties of Simon Fraser University and began operations in September 1965 with the opening of the university. As of this writing (May 2008), it continues as an active faculty with a mandate to engage in research and scholarly inquiry, advance knowledge, and improve the practice of teaching and the learning experience.

The Faculty of Education was founded with a broad mandate. In addition to courses relating to education and the teacher-certification Professional Development Program (PDP), the faculty was also responsible for instruction in the fine and performing arts, campus arts programming, campus recreational services, and intercollegiate athletics. This broad scope was reflected in the original structure of the faculty, which was organized into three distinct Centres, each with their own departments. (i) The Physical Development Centre included the departments of Physical Development Studies, Athletics, and Recreational Services. (ii) The Centre for Communications and the Arts was responsible for courses in fine and performing arts and communication studies, and provided a range of non-credit courses and public-events programming. (iii) The Educational Foundations Centre offered courses through the departments of Behavioural Sciences Foundations, Social and Philosophical Foundations, and Professional Foundations.

Re-organization occurred in 1970. The Centre for Communications and the Arts moved out of the faculty to become a separate unit for arts programming and non-credit instruction. Communication Studies remained within the faculty, moving to the Educational Foundations Centre. Athletics and Recreational Services merged, separated from the Physical Development Centre and left the faculty. Professional Foundations moved out of the Educational Foundations Centre to become its own Centre.

This new arrangement did not last long, and in 1972 the faculty abolished the entire structure based on centres and departments. Physical Development Studies (renamed Kinesiology) and Communication Studies moved out of Education to become academic departments in the newly established Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies. The Faculty of Education became a unitary body with functional divisions for Undergraduate Programs, Graduate Programs and Professional Programs. Professors were now affiliated to the faculty as a whole, able to cross over different program areas. Two further divisions were later added. Field Relations and Teacher In-Service was established in 1994 for professional development programs for BC school teachers and administrators (renamed Field Programs in 1998). International Programs was created in 2000 for coordinating the faculty's many internationalization activities. In both cases, the new divisions did not represent the accrual of a new function as such, but rather provided a more coherent organizational structure for activities and programs that were already underway in the faculty.

Administratively, the faculty is headed by the Dean of Education, assisted since 1983 by an Associate Dean. The Dean originally reported directly to the President, but since 1970 has reported to the Vice-President, Academic whose office was established in that year. The number and composition of the faculty's committees has varied over time. The Faculty Meeting has always been the principal governing forum, while the Executive Committee prepares matters for the Faculty Meeting, makes recommendations, and reviews and coordinates the activities of the different program areas. Each program area is headed by a Director, with program committees that review and make recommendations relating to the program as a whole.

Since the 1972 re-organization, teaching in the Faculty of Education focuses on provision of Education courses to undergraduate and graduate students; teacher certification through the Professional Development Program (PDP); and professional development activities for in-service teachers. From 1965, the faculty has offered degrees for the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.), the Master of Arts (Education) (M.A.) and Master of Science (Education) (M.Sc.). The Master of Education (M.Ed.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) were offered from 1983, and the Doctor of Education (D.Ed.) was added in 1998. Teaching is carried out by faculty members, assisted in the PDP program by faculty associates and program coordinators (teachers in the BC school system seconded to assist in teaching and classroom supervision activities). Since the early 1970s, decentralization has allowed PDP students to complete part of their requirements in communities across the provinces, as well providing in-service professional development activities beyond the Lower Mainland region.

See fonds Appendix B for a visual representation of the Faculty of Education's organizational structure and how this has changed over time.

Custodial history

Scope and content

The fonds consists of records made and received by the Faculty of Education in the course of administering its programs and operations. Activities documented include policy and procedures development, budget planning, and relations with staff, faculty members, and students; the self-governance of the faculty through the faculty meeting and faculty committees; the evolution of the faculty's administrative structure and its re-organizations; the administration of faculty departments and centres (prior to 1972) and program area divisions (after 1972); the development of curriculum and delivery of courses; liaison with other SFU bodies and departments, other universities, government bodies and agencies, school boards, and professional associations relating to education; and special events held by the faculty, including conferences, colloquia, and public lecture series. Textual records include meeting agenda and minutes, reports, correspondence, publications, statistics, notes and working papers. Non-textual media include photographic material, architectural drawings, and audio and audio-visual recordings. For more detailed descriptions, see the series-level descriptions.

Note that there are a number of gaps in the coverage of the fonds. No records have been transferred from the Dean's office (series 1) for the period after 1984. The series of committee records (series 3) includes no or very few files from several of the faculty's standing committees (Field Programs, Appointments, Tenure and Promotion, and Research Opportunities). The holdings of the early centres and departments of the faculty (series 4) are slight, with the exception of those for the Department of Behavioural Science Foundations. Of the program area divisions established after the 1972 reorganization (five as of 2008), only one (Professional Programs) has transferred its records to the Archives (series 5).

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

The records were transferred to Archives directly from the Faculty of Education, but the method of transfer has changed over time, and this has had an impact on the overall nature of the fonds.

(i) From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, university bodies, including the Faculty of Education, used the University Records Centre (URC) to store their semi-active and inactive records. Around 1985, ca. 7 m of the faculty's URC material was processed into the Archives' permanent holdings.

(ii) In 1994, the Archives undertook the first systematic appraisal and scheduling all unprocessed material then in the URC, and this resulted in the further transfer of an additional 5 m of Education records to Archives, though this accrual was not processed at that time.

(iii) From 1994 on, the faculty has from time to time transferred records to the URC in accordance with approved Records Retention Schedules and Disposal Authorities (RRSDAs). RRSDAs provide a timetable for how long departments retain records and specify the final diposition at the end of that period (destroy or transfer to the Archives). Through the application of schedules, the Archives received between 2000 and 2008 seven accessions of Faculty of Education records (6 m, 1965-2000) under the following RRSDAs:

  • RRSDA 1999-002, Course files.
  • RRSDA 1999-003, Committee files.
  • RRSDA 1999-005, General administrative, program, and subject files.

Note that in the course of processing, the total extent was reduced, as not all of the files accessioned were selected for permenant retention.

Arrangement

The fonds was arranged into the series by the SFU Archives in 2008, based on the original order established by the office(s) of creation. This does, however, represent the third arrangement under which the Archives has organized Faculty of Education records. Around 1985, the Archives established Record Group 9 (RG-9) for the archival material of the Faculty of Education. In 1997, the Archives re-described the records as fonds F-22, following the Canadian descriptive standard, the Rules for Archival Description (RAD). This created RAD-compliant descriptions down to the series level (but not sub-series); the overall arrangement, however, continued to follow the structure established by RG-9. In 2008, with another 11 m of accruals spanning 1965-2000 to process into the fonds, the Archives decided to modify the arrangement to better reflect the original order. It broadly follows the same outline as RG-9, but attempts to more clearly group material according to the unit of origin within the faculty. A new fonds number was assigned (F-233), and files previously processed under F-22 were renumbered according to the new arrangement.

See Appendix C for the previous series arrangements (RG-9 and F-22) and Appendix D for a concordance between the old F-22 and new F-233 file numbers.

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Moving images have been digitized; see series 8-2 for details.

Restrictions on access

Some files may contain personal or confidential information. Access to these files may be restricted as required by law. Files marked "pending review" must be reviewed by an archivist prior to release and, as a result of the review, access restrictions may apply. Please see the file lists and consult the reference archivist for more details.

Copyright subsists in all or some of the records. Generally, the university is the copyright owner only for works that its employees and service providers authored. Please consult the reference archivist for details about the use of copyrighted materials.

Note that both of these qualifications (restrictions and copyright) apply to files across all series in the fonds. Series descriptions include a note on restrictions only where more specific information is applicable.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

File and item lists are available for all series, unless indicated otherwise in the series description. A list of photograph subjects is available in the case of two files of photos and is included within the file; see series 8-1. Appendix A ("Access points index") contains a list of all access points assigned to all levels of description.

Generated finding aid

Associated materials

Other university fonds will often contain correspondence or other records relating to the Faculty of Education. See especially:

  • F-193, Office of the President fonds > Series 9: Faculty of Education - correspondence (1964-1996).

  • F-200, Office of the Vice-President, Academic fonds > Series 3-2: Faculty of Education (1968-1999).

  • F-201, Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic fonds > Series 4: Faculties - correspondence (1985-1992).

  • F-202, Academic Planning Services fonds > Series 2-22: Faculty of Education external review files (1991-1994).

Historian Hugh Johnston's research notes for his book on the early years of SFU ("Radical Campus", published in 2004) are found in fonds F-223 ("Hugh Johnston fonds") and include material relating to the Faculty of Education; see file F-223-1-2-4-1 ("Red notebook", 2000-2004).

A number of departments that were originally part of the Faculty of Education later separated to become independent units or moved to other faculties or administrative portfolios. Additional records relating to these units will be found in other fonds. See especially:

  • F-109, School for the Contemporary Arts fonds (formerly the Centre for Communication and the Arts in the Faculty of Education; separated 1970).

  • F-80, Athletics and Recreational Services fonds (formerly part of the faculty's Physical Development Centre; separated 1970).

  • F-60, School of Kinesiology fonds (formerly Physical Development Studies in the faculty's Physical Development Centre; became a separate department within the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies in 1972).

  • F-92, School of Communication fonds (formerly Communication Studies within the faculty's Centre for Communication and the Arts, then the Educational Foundations Centre; became a separate department within the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies in 1972).

Related materials

Accruals

As of July 2008, all accessions have been processed. Further accruals to the fonds as a whole are expected. Series descriptions indicate whether the series is open (further accruals expected) or closed (no further accruals expected).

General note

Financial assistance for the arrangement and description of these records and production of the finding aid was generously provided by the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University (2007).

Physical description

The bulk of the photographic material will be found in series 8-1 ("Photographs"); outside of this, 1 file of photos is in series 5-1-1 (file 81, "PDP on trial").

All architectural drawings (4) are found in one file in series 1-2 ("Dean's files", file 35, "Space allocation, vol. 2").

There are 57 sounds recordings, comprising 78 audio cassettes. Most of the are located in the various sub-series of series 8 ("Special media collections"), but one recording is included in series 3-3 ("Faculty meetings") and another in series 5-1-1.

Moving images are located in series 8-2; they comprise 30 titles on 11 16mm films, 25 Umatic videocassettes, 7 VHS videocassettes and 7 Hi8 videocassette tapes.

Alternative identifier(s)

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Rules or conventions

Status

Revised

Level of detail

Full

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Finding aid prepared by Richard Dancy (July 2008); item number re-assigned in accordance with new item-level control system implemented in November 2012.

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