Teachers are giving up because “the soul of teaching” has gone, a union representative has warned.

This comes after a primary school teacher wrote a resignation letter to the Secretary of State for Education, accusing the government of having “obliterated” the education system.

Zoe Brown, an assistant head teacher at Farnham Green primary school, Royal Close, Seven Kings, said it was “with a heavy heart” she would hand in her resignation letter following growing pressures on school staff to achieve results rather than teaching pupils life skills.

She published the letter addressed to Nicky Morgan and called Sorry, Nicky, I’m out, on her blog The Girl on the Piccadilly Line.

The young teacher who has been in post for six years explained she was no longer proud of having joined “the noble cause” of teaching but was only preparing her pupils to pass exams, while sacrificing anything that was not English and maths.

Redbridge NUT representative Kash Mallick told the Recorder two other primary teachers have resigned while more than 20 have been made redundant after school budget cuts in the borough since January.

“Teachers are just giving up. Something happens and it is the final straw, they are no longer ready to accept. In the past, they used to hang on because their work was being valued. Today, they feel the extra work is not worth it,” he said.

Mr Mallick is convinced more teachers will resign, as up to 20 per cent of teachers in Redbridge, he believes, are feeling like Miss Brown, demoralised and undervalued.

The new SATs tests combined with data-focused school inspections, more complicated Ofsted guidelines for assessment and frozen pay was the tipping point for Miss Brown.

Miss Brown is expected to finish the academic year at Farnham Green but the school declined to comment.

A spokeswoman from the Department for Education said it was “disappointing” to hear about her resignation but would make “no apologies” for the reforms.