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Mary Bousted

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Bousted
Bousted in 2013
General Secretary of the National Education Union
In office
1 September 2017 – 31 August 2023
Serving with Kevin Courtney
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byDaniel Kebede
President of the Trades Union Congress
In office
14 September 2016 – 13 September 2017
Preceded byLiz Snape
Succeeded bySally Hunt
General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers
In office
7 April 2003 – 1 September 2017
Preceded byPeter Smith
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 January 2025
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Mary Winefride Bleasdale

(1959-09-15) 15 September 1959 (age 65)
Bolton, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Donald Bousted
​
(m. 1983)​
Children1
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisA Socio-Political Analysis of the Personal Growth Ideology of English Teaching (1999)
Academic work
Institutions

Mary Winefride Bousted, Baroness Bousted (née Bleasdale; born 15 September 1959), is a British trade unionist, educator and life peer. She was the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) from 2017 to 2023 and previously the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) from 2003 to 2017.

Born to teachers in Bolton, Bousted worked as an English teacher in London. After moving into higher education, she ran teacher-training programmes at various universities. She became the general secretary of the ATL in 2003 and, after its amalgamation with the National Union of Teachers to form the NEU, subsequently served as the joint general secretary of the NEU alongside Kevin Courtney. She served as the president of the Trades Union Congress for 2016–17. Bousted was appointed to the House of Lords as a Labour Party life peer in 2025.

Early life

Bousted was born Mary Winefride Bleasdale on 15 September 1959 in Bolton to Edward and Winefride Bleasdale. She was the second-youngest of eight children. Her mother was a teacher, and supported the Labour Party. Her father supported the Liberals, and was determined for those at the primary school to pass the eleven-plus. Bousted attended St Osmund's RC Primary School in Breightmet, where her father was the headmaster. She then attended Mount St Joseph School, a Roman Catholic girls' direct grant grammar school.[1][2]

Bousted gained a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English from the University of Hull, followed by a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from Durham University (Collingwood College) in 1982.[2][3] She later gained a Master of Arts (MA) degree from the UCL Institute of Education, and a PhD from the University of York in 1999 with a thesis on "a socio-political analysis of the personal growth ideology of English teaching".[1][4]

Career

Bousted with a picket line of striking workers outside Cheney School, Oxford, in 2023

Bousted taught English from 1982 to 1987 at Bentley Wood High School in Harrow, London. From 1988 to 1991, she was Head of English at Whitmore High School in Harrow. In 1991, Bousted became a lecturer at the University of York, her alma mater, and was appointed its director of initial teacher training in 1995. From 1997 to 1999, she was Head of Secondary Education at Edge Hill College (which later became Edge Hill University), then the head of the School of Education at Kingston University from 1999 to 2003.[1]

On 7 April 2003, Bousted was elected as the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) following Peter Smith's retirement, becoming the first woman to lead a major teachers' trade union.[5][6][7] She applied for the role after seeing an advertisement in The Guardian and despite never having been a member of the ATL.[2] Bousted served two terms as a member of the Acas council from 2010 to 2016, and chaired its audit committee.[8] Upon the ATL's merger with the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in September 2017 to form the National Education Union (NEU), she became the NEU's joint general secretary alongside Kevin Courtney, the former head of the NUT.[9] Bousted and Courtney were succeeded by Daniel Kebede as the sole general secretary of the NEU in September 2023.[10]

On 14 September 2016, Bousted was elected President of the Trades Union Congress, replacing Liz Snape of Unison. She was succeeded by Sally Hunt of the University and College Union on 13 September 2017.[11][12]

Bousted was awarded an honorary Doctor of Education degree by Edge Hill University in 2010.[2][13] She was granted an honorary professorship in the UCL Institute of Education's Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research in 2024.[14]

In late 2024, Bousted was nominated for a Labour Party life peerage by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.[15][16] She was created Baroness Bousted, of Bleasdale in the County of Lancashire, on 27 January 2025,[17] and was introduced to the House of Lords on 6 February.[18]

Personal life

Bousted married Donald Bousted in 1983. They have a daughter.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Bousted, Dr Mary Winefride". Who's Who. A & C Black. 2023. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U44752. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c d "Mary Bousted, general secretary, Association of Teachers and Lecturers". FE Week. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  3. ^ University of Durham Gazette Supplement. Vol. XXVII. Durham University. 1983. p. 51.
  4. ^ Bousted, Mary Winefride (1999). A Socio-Political Analysis of the Personal Growth Ideology of English Teaching (PhD thesis). University of York. Retrieved 27 January 2025 – via White Rose eTheses Online.
  5. ^ Slater, Jon; Salmon, Christine (13 December 2002). "Union poised for battle over leader". Tes Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  6. ^ "ATL announces general secretary". BBC News. 7 April 2003. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  7. ^ Halpin, Tony (29 April 2003). "Giving teachers a place in policy". The Times. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  8. ^ "Acas Council Members re-appointments confirmed". GOV.UK (Press release). 1 May 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  9. ^ Sellgren, Katherine (22 March 2017). "Teachers' unions merge to make super-union". BBC News. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  10. ^ Whittaker, Freddie (31 March 2023). "Daniel Kebede elected as NEU general secretary". Schools Week. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  11. ^ "ATL's Dr Mary Bousted becomes new TUC President". FE News. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  12. ^ "Sally Hunt becomes TUC President". TUC. 13 September 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  13. ^ "Education union leader receives honorary award". Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  14. ^ "Former General Secretary of the National Education Union named IOE Honorary Professor". UCL. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  15. ^ "Political Peerages December 2024". GOV.UK (Press release). Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street. 20 December 2024. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  16. ^ Pollock, Laura (20 December 2024). "See the 38 new lifetime peers announced by the UK Government". The National. Archived from the original on 20 December 2024. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  17. ^ "No. 64645". The London Gazette. 31 January 2025. p. 1694.
  18. ^ "Introduction: Baroness Bousted". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 843. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Lords. 6 February 2025. col. 797.
Trade union offices
Preceded by General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers
2003–2017 		Merged into the National Education Union
Preceded by President of the Trades Union Congress
2016–2017 		Succeeded by
New office General Secretary of the National Education Union
2017–2023
Served alongside: Kevin Courtney 		Succeeded by
Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bousted