Ravi's Story

Meet Ravi, 27, from Islington North in London. He wanted to become a teacher in a subject facing critical shortages, but found his path blocked when HM Treasury's spending rules forced the Department for Education to cut training bursaries for London-based candidates. Despite having the qualifications and passion to teach, Ravi discovered that Westminster had set national recruitment targets that completely ignored the reality of regional disparities in teacher supply. The classrooms were ready, qualified graduates were eager to train, but the political decision to connect them never came. This episode explores how Treasury orthodoxy treats the currency-issuing government as though it must compete for a fixed pot of money, leaving education capacity unused across the capital. Disclosure: This story is dramatised but reflects systemic issues documented in education policy research.