The Division of Social Foundations of Education had historically been founded in relation to the Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Chiang Mai university. In 2549 B.E. Chiang Mai university as public university was during in preparation phase for changing its status to be autonomous university. In 2551 B.E. Chiang Mai university had officially been approved as one of autonomous universities under the directives of the Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC).

The Department of Educational Foundations had been demoted into a division. The name of this new division was the division of educational foundations in which Associate Professor Somchot Ongsakul was appointed to be a head of division and also an acting head in subsequent period.

In 2556 B.E. Assistant Professor Dr. Pongsak Pankaew, the dean of faculty of education, had proposed the statement concerning the establishment of new three departments to Chiang Mai university. The Department of Foundations and Educational Development was one of the newly established departments; while the division of educational foundations became one of the divisions under the directives of Department of Foundations and Educational Development. During this transition phase, Associate Professor Dr. Siwarak Siwarom was acting head of the department and Associate Professor Dr. Nongyao Nawarat was a head of the division of educational foundations. Later in 2557 B.E., Associate Professor Dr. Nongyao Nawarat was appointed to be the first department head of Department of Foundations and Educational Development. In 2558 B.E., due to its duplicated title of educational foundations division with the department, the department had issued a statement to Chiang Mai University in regard to changing its divisions’ name from the educational foundations to social foundations of education. In addition, the social foundations of education division is more closely related with the interdisciplinary social sciences knowledge in which the division as a field of social foundations of education has articulated this discipline into account for understandings, explanations and critiques social and educational phenomena regarding teaching, research and academic services.

The division of social foundations of education has its current status under the administration of Department of Foundations and Educational Development. This current state differed from the previous established departments in which had traditionally housed a variety of educational foundations namely psychology, arts, sociology, history and philosophy. Subsequently, new departments were successfully established then psychology and arts had been given status as newly academic fields out of the division of social foundations of education. By doing so, academics and lecturers remaining in the division were predominantly in the field of social foundations of education; namely, Associate Professor Dr. Siwarak Siwarom and Associate Professor Dr. Nongyao Nawarat.

By the year 2555 B.E. until now, the division of social foundations of education has direct responsibility for core courses in teaching profession. These courses such as multicultural education and multicultural education for teachers aim broadly at equipping pre-service teachers with culturally responsive pedagogy for diverse students. The division also has responsible for PhD in education (multicultural education) program which its focus on utilizing interdisciplinary social sciences knowledge and methodologies into educational issues. Due to the reasons previously stated, the division of educational foundations had been transformed to the division of social foundations of education under the administration of Department of Foundations and Educational Development, Faculty of Education, Chiang Mai University since then.