A packed funeral chapel bore witness to the affection and admiration the educational world bore towards June Fisher, who died of cancer, aged 66. She was a remarkable teacher, teachers’ leader and a woman who greatly advanced the cause of women.

She started out a student Tory at Bristol University, but she soon turned to the Left, became a Communist and began a happy teaching career in 1958 at Peckham girls’ school. There the headteacher, Margaret Clarke, was one of Britain’s outstanding Communist teachers’ leaders and a member of the National Union of Teachers executive. Margaret Clarke had a decisive influence in June’s educational thinking, which became centred on raising standards through comprehensive education. It is amusing to note that one of June’s pupils was Norma Major.

June stayed at Peckham until 1965 developing talents as a history teacher which later made her a leading light on the Schools Council’s influential History Committee. She moved to a deputy headship and later an acting headship at Acland Burghley school, north London, and then to the headship of Camden School for Girls in 1971.

By then she had become well known in the NUT. As a union leader in London she worked in happy partnership with her second husband, Sam - they both became presidents of the London Teachers’ Association and were elected to the NUT executive. June became NUT president in 1989, and remained a much-loved figure of the responsible Left, where she had to withstand constant and embittered attacks from the Trotskyists and other ultra-left groups which sought to control London teacher politics. She withstood these with cheerfulness and aplomb, never wavering in her aim of enhancing the status of the profession.

Her social and educational philosophy was clearly expressed in a magnificent presidential address which won applause far and wide. She played an outstanding part in the union’s role in examination reform and was one of the most valued members of the University of London’s examination and assessment council.

June had become a famous figure on the national educational scene but her prime interest always lay in advancing educational opportunities for the underprivileged. And this she expressed most practically in her own school at Catford.

The school was always in the forefront of her mind. She would inspect exercise books, patrol the corridors, drop into lessons, build up links with the local community. She looked after individuals, not confining the school within rigid rules. The show the pupils put on for her retirement was a truly remarkable tribute from staff and children.

June’s last few years were troubled by an ultimately fatal illness, during which she lost her much-loved hair. She bore her burden with astounding fortitude. Surrounded and helped by a loving family and innumerable friends she still worked. For her it was business as usual for as long as she could continue. We all watched her with profound admiration and deep affection.

She set an example which will be hard to follow. Education and the teaching profession have suffered an irreparable loss.