The next general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union will be Patrick Roach, who has worked his way up from being an equal opportunities officer at the union.

But what else do we know about him?

The NASUWT leader-in-waiting

• He is a 55-year-old married father-of-two who lives in the Birmingham area.

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• He is a former teacher of politics and sociology to 16- to 19-year-old students in FE colleges.

• He is also a former university lecturer on social policy issues at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

• He completed a PhD in sociology.

• He was appointed as NASUWT deputy general secretary in June 2010.

• He is described by the union as having “an extensive track record of working with government on the full range of pay and conditions of service matters affecting teachers”.

• Prior to his career at the NASUWT, Dr Roach was involved in leading a range of innovative programmes focusing on teacher education, working with disaffected and excluded young people, and engaging parents and local communities.
   

Writing for Tes in 2017, Dr Roach penned a response to the government’s Racial Disparity Audit, in which he said that “racial disadvantage and discrimination is widespread within our school system”. 

He will take over from Chris Keates as general secretary of the NASUWT in April.