Queen's Birthday Honour

The EduCare team is delighted to announce that EduCare’s Managing Director, Keir McDonald, has been awarded an MBE for his services to children in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours list.

In 1997, Keir set up a partnership with the NSPCC to help them expand their training provision as their resources were limited. Together, they developed a range of eleven online and paper-based learning courses on subjects such as child protection awareness, preventing bullying behaviour, children’s rights, child neglect, safer recruitment and child sexual abuse. The need was such that, fifteen years later, almost 500,000 participants from an extensive range of sectors such as health, education, charity, probation and many more, have undertaken one or more courses. The entire undertaking has been conducted on a not-for-profit basis.

Keir was also recognised in 2003 by Her Majesty the Queen when he was named as a ‘Pioneer to the Life of the Nation’.

Keir said: “I am extremely proud to accept the MBE as recognition of the work we do to improve children’s safety and wellbeing. Our objective is to help any individual who comes into contact with children and young people in their work or voluntary activity to gain the confidence they need to identify children who may be at risk and to report their suspicions.

“We are close to delivering our 500,000th EduCare course in a not-for-profit partnership with the NSPCC and we are very proud to be working with their dedicated professionals in this important work.

“I view the award as a collective effort on behalf of my passionate and hard-working colleagues and I thank them for making a very simple idea into the outstanding success it has become. To everyone who has completed an EduCare course, I also say thank you for helping to eliminate ignorance and inaction. An abused child is scarred for life and abuse must be identified and eliminated. As the NSPCC say, Cruelty to children must stop. FULL STOP.”

Return to news