Ms Mitchell said that this announcement is part of the NSW Governments commitment to raise the standards of teaching in NSW.

“From 2021, students sitting the HSC will need to achieve at least a Band 4 in maths to become a primary school teacher in NSW.”

“The early years are the most formative and important in a child’s educational journey. No one teaching our kids the basics of maths should be unable to complete high school maths themselves,” Ms Mitchell said.

“Parents have a reasonable expectation that their young children are learning the basics of numeracy from someone who is mathematically literate.”

NSW already has the most stringent requirements for teachers wanting to enter the public education system.

“We are committed to providing Australia’s best education system and to do this we need the best teachers.”

“Along with our first curriculum review in 30 years, historic $6.7 billion investment in school infrastructure and strengthening teacher quality requirements we are building Australia’s best education system.”

If a student fails to achieve a band four in maths – but undertakes and succeeds in a maths based course at university of equivalent or higher standard they will still be able to get job as a primary school teacher.

This policy reinforces the fact that NSW has the highest ITE entry standards in the country – already requiring ITE graduates to achieve three band fives in their HSC – one of them being English.