Teaching union elects woman

The ATL teaching union is about to become the largest British union to have a female general secretary after its members elected Dr Mary Bousted to the top post. She will take it up in the summer.

She won a three-cornered contest after gaining 6,431 votes compared to 6,328 polled by her nearest rival, Hank Roberts. The turnout was just over 15%.

The ATL becomes the 10th TUC-affiliated union to have a woman at the helm and, with some 160,000 members, by far the largest.