Nadine A. Molloy hails from Spring Hill in the parish of Portland. Raised a Quaker (Religious Society of Friends), she currently worships at the Olsen Chapel of the Church of God in Jamaica as a mark of respect for the church who owns the school and operates it jointly with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture. A two-time graduate of the University of the West Indies Mona, Ms. Molloy also has additional graduate qualification from the Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan in Secondary Education Administration. She is a proud past student of the Marymount High School for Girls in Highgate, St. Mary where she served as Head Girl and a student council member for several years. Ms. Molloy has teacher qualification from the Church Teachers’ College in Mandeville, Manchester.
A trained teacher librarian, she has worked at the Brown’s Town Community College as Lecturer Librarian after leaving Bishop Gibson High School for Girls, where she taught English Language and Literature. As a library student she spent time doing fieldwork at the historic and prestigious Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture, in Harlem; a part of the New York Public Library network.
At Bishop Gibson High she was involved in producing the school’s magazine and mentored many students through various co-curricular activities. She has been a secondary school principal since 2000, previously serving at the Buff Bay High School. During her tenure the school experienced improvement in all facets of its development.
Ms. Molloy is a strong believer in school spirit and is convinced that through strategic partnerships and continuous training any school can register constant improvement. She continues to be excited by the possibilities for education in Jamaica which she believes is on an upward trajectory. She believes that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will only serve to fuel more significant and needed changes in education.
A service and community minded individual, Nadine Molloy has served and continues to serve on national boards. She is responsible for returning to Jamaica the first full copy of the Marcus Garvey trial documents, while she served on the Jamaica National Heritage Trust Board and Institute of Jamaica Council. She is currently a director of the Gleaner Media Company Limited, the Barbados-based CXC Charity and the Jamaica Publishing House Limited.
As the two term president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS), she led a delegation on a three-day observation tour of principals of the Cuban secondary education system in 2008. This marked the first time a principal from an upgraded high school held the presidency. She was also LASCO/MOEY Principal of the Year 2009 – 10.
Ms. Molloy served the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) as its president in 2010 – 2011. As president, she represented teachers at various forums locally and internationally. She travelled to Canada to observe teacher professional development at work with the Teacher Learning and Leadership Programme (TLLP), and to Thailand to represent the JTA at the Education International (EI) first international women’s conference. At the United Nations Committee on the Status of Women, (UNCSW 55) in 2011, Ms. Molloy presented the joint statement on behalf of trade unions Education International (EI), Public Services International (PSI) and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) at the United Nations. Ms. Molloy also headed the JTA’s delegation to the Education International 6th World Congress in Cape Town, South Africa in July 2011.
Her JTA presidency was marked by her strong advocacy for improvement to the education system, as she strongly believes that the working condition of the teacher is the learning condition of the student. Both union and professional development activities work in tandem and must be viewed as inseparable. She is currently a trustee of the JTA and is the first female from the Caribbean to be elected to serve on the Brussels-based Education International’s (EI) Executive Board for a four-year term beginning July 2019. Ms. Molloy is a trained school inspector with the National Education Inspectorate (NEI).
She credits her rural upbringing in the Blue Mountains -where home, school, church and community worked together to raise every single child- for any positive thing that she has been able to accomplish. She thoroughly enjoyed her high school years and knows that she now benefits significantly from the goodwill and professionalism of her teachers. Today, Ms. Molloy seeks to replicate that experience in its best possible form for her students.