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The Department of Early Childhood Education ("ECE") at The Education University of Hong Kong ("EdUHK") traced its origins to 1981, when Grantham Training College launched a Two-Year Part-Time Course of Training for Kindergarten Teachers. This initiative was established in response to recommendations made in the 1980 Green Paper on Pre-School Services and Primary Education. It was a day-release programme designed for teachers already working in pre-school education—a sector that had previously received little attention in local educational planning. This course marked the beginning of formal kindergarten teacher training in Hong Kong and laid the foundation for the development of early childhood education in the region.

In 1994, Grantham College of Education merged with four other Colleges of Education to form the autonomous Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd"), the predecessor of The EdUHK. With this merger, the Early Childhood Education Division was entrusted with the kindergarten teacher training programmes previously offered by Grantham College. The following year, in the 1995/1996 academic year, the Division of Early Childhood Education was formally established and launched its first Certificate in Kindergarten Education (CD(KG)) Programme, marking a new phase of structured professional training.

The Department of English Language Education ("ELE") was first known as the Department of English under the newly amalgamated Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd") in 1995. Since then, it was known as the Department of English until the academic reorganization in academic year 2012/2013. It had also been organized into different academic entities throughout the years:

• 1994–1998: Department of English, Board of Language in Education;
• 1998–2005: Department of English, School of Languages in Education;
• 2005–2008: Department of English, Faculty of Languages, Arts & Sciences;
• 2008–2012: Department of English, Faculty of Languages;
• 2012–Present: Department of English Language Education, Faculty of Humanities.

In the academic year 2008/2009, the Department of Early Childhood Education underwent a significant structural transition as part of the Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd")'s broader institutional reform. Following the submission of the Development Blueprint - Becoming a University of Education in June 2007, the Institute took decisive steps to enhance its academic and research capacities. These included the establishment of the office of Vice President (Research and Development) in January 2008 to provide leadership in promoting a strong research culture and infrastructure within the Institute.

In August 2008, a new academic structure was introduced, reconstituting the existing two Faculties into three. As a result of this restructuring, the four academic departments previously housed under the Faculty of Professional and Early Childhood Education ("FPECE"), including the Department of Early Childhood Education, were transferred to the newly established Faculty of Education Studies. This move reflected the Institute’s commitment to strengthening its academic foundation and aligning its organisational structure with its evolving educational and research priorities.

From the academic year 2012/2013 onward, the Department of Early Childhood Education was placed under the newly formed Faculty of Education and Human Development. This transition coincided with the Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd")’s diversification into multidisciplinary programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, aligning with the implementation of the new 3-3-4 academic structure in September 2012. After years of strategic planning, the Institute’s three Faculties were re-aligned and renamed as the Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Education and Human Development, and Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, reflecting a modernised and comprehensive academic framework that continues to support the department’s growth and leadership in early childhood education.

The Colleges of Education Joint Selection Board was created in 1971 to centralize the selection of students for the Full-Time Two-Year Courses offered by Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education and Sir Robert Black College of Education. The scope of the Board's responsibilities and research undertakings broadened with the introduction of new courses and the joining of new member. For example, in 1980, the Board began to administer for the selection of the Two-Year Part-Time In-Service Course of Training for Kindergarten Teachers, the Initial Course of Teacher Training (Primary) for Special School Teachers and the Two-Year Part-Time In-Service Course of Training for Teachers of Handicapped Children, in addition to the selection of all full-time courses. As from 1985/1986, the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College also became a member of the Board, and since then the Board had to manage the selection of all full-time and part-time courses of the four Colleges as the overarching administrative machinery. In 1989, there was a review of the responsibility of the Board. It was felt that the Board should only be concerned with the selection of students of the full-time courses and those part-time courses which accord qualified teacher status and were common courses in the four Colleges. Thus the selections for courses for Special Education, Kindergarten, and the Refresher and Retraining Courses were no longer included.

The Board was supported and assisted by its subsidiary committees which comprised all professional staff members of the four Colleges in the smooth mounting of all joint selection exercises. Membership of the Board included Principals of the four Colleges, who took turns to serve as the Chairman in each reporting year; and representative(s) of the Assistant Director (Further Education Division), Chairpersons of Committees, appointed members, and a secretary. They held board meetings to monitor, direct and evaluate the selection exercises throughout the year. The Board underwent some restructuring in 1989 and set up committees to look after the different aspects of the selection exercises. The professional staff members of the four Colleges, on the other hand, were organised into various Executive Committees, a Research and Statistics Unit and various Subject Advisory Committees, and carried out the execution of the selection procedures in accordance with the Board policies. Apart from involving in the selection of students which took place at various times of the year, the professional staff members also had to concurrently involve in their regular programmes of lecturing at their own Colleges and supervising students of both the full-time and part-time courses in practical teaching.

The selection exercises had always been done manually but in September 1992, in collaboration with the Information Technology Services Department, the joint selection exercise was computerised to streamline and standardise the selection of students, though only for the Full-Time Two-Year and Three-Year Courses of Initial Teacher Education 1992-93.

The Academic Staff Association of The Education University of Hong Kong was established in 1965 as the Association of Lecturers at Colleges of Education to secure the complete organisation of all grades of lecturers employed by the Education Department of Hong Kong Government in the Colleges of Education. Membership of the Association, at first, was open to lecturers in Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education, and Sir Robert Black College of Education. And since 1975, it also began to admit lecturers of the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College. The Association was the only staff association for lecturers in Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education and Sir Robert Black College of Education, but lecturers from the Hong Kong Technical Teachers’ College had the option of joining, concurrently, the Hong Kong Technical Teachers’ College Lecturers’ Association.

Subsequent to the establishment of the Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd") on 25 April 1994 and the amalgamation of Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education, Sir Robert Black College of Education, the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College and the Institute of Language in Education into HKIEd on 1 September 1994, membership of the Association was extended to the entire Institute including lecturers of the Bonham Campus (formerly the Institute of Language in Education, which was converted to one of the HKIEd campuses before the Tai Po Campus was completed). The Association was also renamed the Association of Lecturers at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The name of the Association was later changed again, firstly on 25 September 2002 to the Academic Staff Association of the Hong Kong Institute of Education so as to better reflect and represent staff at HKIEd; and after the grant of university title in 2016, to the Academic Staff Association of The Education University of Hong Kong.