‘I was in floods of tears’: Trainee teachers react as Teach First asks some people to defer or cancel places amid pandemic

‘I don’t know what I’m going to do,’ one person tells Zoe Tidman

Teach First says they have had to reduce their cohort by 120 places this year (iStock)

“I had just left my job. Now, I don’t have a job for September,” says one woman who was expecting to train to be a teacher this year.

Natalie*, a hopeful primary school teacher, is one of more than 100 people who have been told to either defer or cancel their training places with Teach First this week.

“I am the main breadwinner in my family. I support my parents,” she tells The Independent. “I don’t know what I’m going to do at this stage.”