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Established in September 1960, the Sir Robert Black College of Education was originally known as The Third Training College and operated as a branch of the Grantham Training College. It was founded to address the increasing demand for teachers resulting from the Primary School Expansion Programme initiated by the Government in 1954. At that time. the College had a staff of 19 and an enrolment of 191 students.

In September 1961, it became an independent College and in October, it was renamed after His Excellency the Governor Sir Robert Black, G.C.M.G., O.B.E. and officially known as Sir Robert Black Training College.

On 18 October 1967, the College, Northcote Training College and Grantham Training College were renamed Colleges of Education. The decision to adopt this change was made because the former title, “training college,” implied that the colleges were primarily concerned with providing basic skills training. In fact, the colleges performed a much broader educational role, including the further education of students, and offered subjects at an increasingly advanced level.

Effective 1 September 1994, the College was merged with four other Colleges of Education to form part of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (now officially known as the Education University of Hong Kong). Following the merger, the two campuses continued to operate under the Institute until its relocation to Tai Po in October 1997.

The Hong Kong Technical Teachers’ College was established in September 1974. It evolved from the Department of Technical Teacher and Workshop Instructor Training of the Morrison Hill Technical Institute, which ceased operations after September 1974.

The increasing awareness of the importance of technical education in Hong Kong led to the establishment of technical institutes and technical and prevocational schools, as well as the expansion of existing technical and commercial sections in secondary schools. These developments, together with the continuing expansion of secondary education, created a demand for teachers of technical and commercial subjects who were not only experts in their respective fields but also highly competent instructors with the knowledge and ability to apply the latest teaching methods and educational resources.

The principal objectives of the College were to enhance the quality of technical education and to ensure an adequate supply of properly trained and fully qualified teachers of technical and commercial subjects for technical institutes, technical and prevocational schools, and the technical and commercial sections of secondary schools.

The College also provided training courses for technical instructors and trainers.

The English Department was one of the two Departments at the Institute of Language in Education (ILE). It was part of ILE's organisational structure since its establishment in 1982, for the ILE was set up to improve the teaching and learning of Chinese and English as subjects, and the use of these languages across the curriculum. The English Department was responsible for running courses in English, both as a subject and as a medium of instruction for teachers of content subjects. There was an approximate ratio of 1 expatriate native-speaker to 1 local member of staff within the English Department. While ILE ceased to exist as an independent body from 1 September 1994 following its amalgamation with the Colleges of Education and the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College, the work of the English Department had been taken over and continued in the Department of English at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

The Colleges of Education Joint Selection Board was created in 1971 to centralise 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 Proposed Community Creative Arts Complex Project Planning Committee (Planning Committee) was set up by the President of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) in 2011 to plan and formulate the overall directions and strategies for the on-campus Community Creative Arts Complex Project. The Planning Committee was chaired by Mr Chris Mong Chan, the Vice-President (Administration) of HKIEd. Professor Richard Tsang Yip-fat, the Dean of Students and Professor of Department of Cultural and Creative Arts of HKIEd, was the Deputy Chairman. It also comprised members of HKIEd and external expert advisors.

Towards the end of September 1993, the Task Group for Curriculum Planning for The Upgrading of the Colleges of Education was set up under the Further Education Division, Education Department. Members of the Task Group were lectures seconded from the Colleges of Education. Mrs Mak Chen Wen-ning was the convener of the Task Group.

The Task Group was assigned the task of carrying out an in-depth review of the existing curriculum of the Colleges of Education, and to pave way for the final separation of the training of primary and secondary school teachers.