Mahira's Story

Mahira, 29, from Birmingham Selly Oak wanted to become a secondary school teacher in the West Midlands, where her skills were desperately needed. But when she looked into teacher training, she discovered that HM Treasury's spending rules had forced the Department for Education to slash bursaries for subjects with critical shortages in her region. The classrooms were there, graduates like Mahira were ready to teach, but Westminster had made a political choice to leave posts unfunded. This episode explores how central government creates artificial scarcity in education by refusing to connect willing teachers with waiting students. Disclosure: This story is based on reported experiences but some details may be illustrative of broader patterns rather than specific individual circumstances.