A NEWTOWN High School teacher is to take over the helm at the biggest union representing teachers in the UK.

Angela Butler will today (Friday, April 15) become National President of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union and will deliver a keynote speech at the opening of the Union’s Annual Conference in Birmingham.

She said: “It is an absolute honour and a privilege to have been elected to be President of the NASUWT, the only Union that is celebrating teachers, valuing teachers and fighting for teachers.”

The 59-year-old chemistry and special educational needs (SEN) teacher has been in the profession for 36 years, spent entirely at Newtown High School in Powys.

Looking ahead to her year as president in which she will continue to teach one day a week, made possible with the support of Powys County Council and Newtown High School headteacher Rob Edwards, she said: “I can’t wait to meet and listen to teachers across the UK and thankfully I have the opportunity to do that.

“I am looking forward to promoting teaching, which despite the issues we face is still a fantastic and rewarding profession.”

Angela said the biggest change to affect teaching during her career was in the levels of poverty among many pupils and their worsening mental health, which she attributes partly to the collapse in support for families, both in terms of services and the fraying of informal adult networks.

She said: “There aren’t so much the extended families, the adult group who look out for kids, the neighbour you call your aunty next door. That informal support network has broken down and this has contributed to the mental health problems we see. But I don’t think we have seen the levels of poverty we have now since the 1980s.”

Angela spoke about how this has a direct impact on teachers as well, in terms of behaviour and pupils’ ability to learn, which adds to the stress and difficulty teachers face. This has, in part, led to “rock bottom” morale and big effects on teachers own mental health.

She said: “Teachers have seen huge spikes in behavioural issues in the mornings, often because those children are hungry.”

Born in Pyle, just outside Bridgend, Angela said teachers are proud of their profession and despite the importance placed on them during the pandemic they need to be better valued and better paid for their vital role.

She said: “The fact that society doesn’t always value teachers has changed during the pandemic. I think it has been the biggest change in attitude I have seen.

“Parents have realised that teaching is a very difficult job, so I think they appreciate the skill and commitment involved.

“We are a proud profession and we need to be better valued. We should be paid proper salaries for doing it. We should be paid a salary appropriate to the work we do and equivalent to other graduate professions.”

Angela didn’t initially think of teaching as a career and when at school believed she would follow her two brothers into civil engineering. But her school didn’t allow girls to study technical drawing which was needed for civil engineering at university.

She instead read a chemistry degree at Swansea University but negative sexist attitudes during her industrial placement at Ford made her re-evaluate. She completed a PGCE the following year before getting her first teaching job at Newtown, where she has stayed her entire career.

She is passionate about improving the experience of women in schools, which she believes is still not addressed because many decisions affecting the profession are made by men.

This could be through the provision of more toilets in schools, shower facilities or seemingly simple things like height adjustable whiteboards that women can reach. It also extends to the importance of encouraging women to seek leadership positions.

The importance of respect and being valued as professionals is something Angela believes in strongly and insists it is only the NASUWT that fights for that across the UK.

“I love teaching children and that is my core purpose. But just because I love my job and I love inspiring children and helping them, don’t exploit me and don’t think I am not worthy of a well-paid graduate job.

“The only people as I see it who are celebrating teachers, valuing teachers and fighting for teachers is the NASUWT.”

The NASUWT’s Annual Conference is being held at the ICC in Birmingham from today until Monday, April 18.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said: “Angela’s experience in teaching and a career spent working with young people will make her an excellent national champion of the cause of teachers and headteachers, during what will be a very challenging year for the profession as we continue to build educational recovery.”