Cassandra's Story

Cassandra, 28, from Reading Central in the South East, wanted to become a teacher but found herself blocked by Westminster's funding choices. Despite critical teacher shortages in her region, the Department for Education reduced training bursaries and set national recruitment targets that ignored local needs. HM Treasury's spending rules forced education departments to compete for fixed budgets, as though the government that creates the currency must first find it somewhere else. The classrooms existed, qualified graduates were ready to teach, but the political decision to connect them was missing. This episode explores how central government choices in education funding create artificial scarcity in a sector crying out for workers. Disclosure: This podcast advocates for monetary sovereignty and criticises austerity policies from an economic perspective that challenges mainstream fiscal narratives.