Andrea Bradley will become the first woman to hold the post of general secretary in the 175-year history of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS).
She will take up her post in the summer, succeeding the current general secretary, Larry Flanagan, who has held the position for the past ten years.
Since becoming a full-time official, Bradley has represented the EIS on many external bodies and is currently co-vice chair of the STUC women’s committee. She was instrumental in establishing and running the PACT project – a rare joint education union-government initiative which provides vital anti-poverty professional learning for teachers.
The former principal teacher of English in South Lanarkshire said: “I am honoured to be chosen as the next general secretary of the EIS, and I look forward to assuming my post in the near future.
“I do not under-estimate the challenges that the post of general secretary will present, but I intend to face these head-on.
“In the immediate term, securing a fair pay settlement for Scotland’s teaching professionals will be the top priority for the EIS and I will do all that I can towards achieving this objective.”
The EIS is Scotland’s largest teaching union with over 55,000 members.
EIS President Heather Hughes said, “I am delighted that Andrea Bradley has been elected as the next general secretary of the EIS, becoming the first woman to be chosen as the top official of Scotland’s largest teaching union.
“Andrea brings vast experience of Scottish education, and a strong commitment to trade unionism, to the role.
“Scotland’s teachers could not hope for a better appointment, and I look forward to working with Andrea to promote the interests of Scottish education and Scotland’s teaching professionals.”
This week, alongside the NASUWT, the EIS unanimously rejected a 2% pay rise offer from local authority group COSLA a day after inflation rose to 9%.
