Patricia Murray
President
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Blanche Steeples
International Treasurer to IFDCO |
| Patricia Murray, BA., Dip. Ed.,
along with a small group of Childminders in Ireland, founded
the national organisation for Childminding, which has now developed
into Childminding Ireland
Patricia operated as a Childminder for twenty years, delivered
training in childcare and developed training courses for the
sector. In 1993, she published Choosing Childcare, A guide
for parents, in 2000 The Childminding Handbook and in 2004,
the Tutor Manual and Participants Workbook for the Quality
Awareness Programme for Childminders.
As the Chief Executive of Childminding Ireland, and as a
member of the National Co-ordinating Childcare Committee and
as President 2006 - 2009 of the International Family Day Care
Organisation, Patricia continues to contribute to the development
of the Childminding sector in Ireland and internationally.
She is married to John Murray, FRICS, a chartered surveyor
for forty years, has three grown children and one grandson,
pictured reading him a story.
e-mail: pmurray@childminding.ie
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I was born and have lived in Nottingham,
England (Robin Hood country) all my life.
In May this year I will have been married for 37 years, luckily
to the same person, and have three grown up children, Helene,
Mark and David. To finish of the immediate family, we
also have two dogs (Bonnie and Molly) and one cat (Sunday).
My child care life started in 1974 when Mark was 18 months old
and I was asked to look after the child of a friend - then found
out I had to be registered to work with other people’s
children, got registered, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Between the years of 1986 and 1996, I was on the National Executive
Committee of the National Childminding Association, and at various
times held the office of Regional Representative for the East
Midlands, National Treasurer and National Vice-chair. I have
also been a member of IFDCO (UK) since its start in 1988.
IFDCO (UK) has now merged with the International Organisation,
mainly due to lack of new members.
I am working at present, as a children’s nanny and have
been with my “current family” for 19 years. I am
due to “Hang up my Nappies” in June/July next year.
During this 30 year period, I have cared for (only) 18 children
and have never been out of work, except for one pregnancy break,
I think this is a record of which I can be proud. I also work,
(mostly in the evenings) as a youth worker and am very involved
with empowering young people and encouraging them to make their
voices heard and ensuring that they have a say on issues which
are of concern to themselves and their peers.
For indoor hobbies, I enjoy doing counted cross stitch work
and reading. Outdoor, I enjoy walking and cycling.
I have started to find the time to complete some long distance
walks in Britain and have completed the West Highland Way (96
miles), the Coast to Coast (195 miles), the Dales Way (108 miles)
and the Two Moors Way (100 miles). This Easter I walked the
Cleveland Way (110 miles). I support two local sports teams,
Nottingham Forest, football and the Nottingham Panthers, ice
hockey.
As your new Treasurer, I have started to send out reminders
for renewing membership, mostly by e-mail. If I have no
e-mail address for you then look out for the postman. I look
forward to carrying out the duties of International Treasurer
and will do my best not to make too many “mistakes”.
e-mail: blanche7@btinternet.com
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Irene Kyle
Irene J. Kyle, Ph.D., brings to her work a multi-disciplinary
background in child development and family studies, combined
with extensive social policy experience and direct practice
in child care and family support programs. Her doctoral research
(1999) studied how Ontario home child care providers think
about and experience their work of caring for other people's
children. She was Senior Policy Analyst responsible for strategic
planning for child care with the Ontario Ministry of Community
and Social Services from 1982-1987. Dr. Kyle has also been
Executive Director of Canadian Mothercraft Society, and Cradleship
Creche, two early childhood development programs in Toronto.
She was a founding Board member of the Canadian Association
of Family Resource Programs and served on the Board from 1987
to 1992. She also worked with the Centre for Child Care Excellence,
Family Day Care Services, Toronto, helping to develop a system
for accrediting care providers. Dr. Kyle has published a number
of articles related to social policy, child care, family support
programs, and community development. In November 2005, she
was invited to present her research on quality to The Economics
of Quality Childminding Conference in Dublin, sponsored by
Childminding Ireland. She returned to Ireland in September
2006 to address the Waterford County Childcare Committee's
conference on Developing an Integrated Rural Child Care Service.
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Kay Jackson
I was a family day care provider for 18 Years and involved
as a volunteer with the Scottish Childminding Association
for over 10 years. I was Convener of the Board of Directors
for 3 years and Vice President for 4 years. My duties involved
leadership and strategic planning as part of a team who have
led the organization through many developments and changes
over the years.
I was also employed as Project Leader for a project, which
rolled out the new National Care Standards in Early Education
and Childcare to all childcare providers in Scotland. I have
been Chair of IFDCO for 5 years and was Conference Convener
for 3 years also. I have attended international conferences
in Sweden, Sacramento, Glasgow and New Zealand and strongly
believe in the important vision that IFDCO has for the future.
I work as an independent Early Years Consultant and keep very
busy!
My commitment to IFDCO is a result of the passion I have
for Early Childhood Services. I have a firm belief in the
vision of the Organization to reach out to providers and parents
worldwide. I was elected to lead IFDCO to become a strong
Organization and am committed to achieving this during my
term of office.
e-mail: kayjackson@ifdco.com
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