Seren's Story

Seren, 28, from Preston wanted to become a teacher in her hometown where classrooms desperately need qualified educators. But when she looked into teacher training, she discovered that HM Treasury and the Department for Education had slashed bursaries for her subject area despite critical shortages across the North West. The graduates who wanted to teach were there. The classrooms were there. What was missing was Westminster's political decision to fund the connection between them. Instead, Treasury spending rules force departments to compete for fixed pots, as though the government that creates the currency must first find it somewhere else. This is Seren's story from Preston, one of England's most deprived constituencies. Blocked Britain is produced independently and receives no government or corporate funding.