In this paper, the aurthors analyse anonymised National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) data linked to later employment for the recent cohort of primary teachers to better understand what might be driving secondary students’ falling performance in maths and science. The results show that one in four new primary teachers failed NCEA Level 1 maths, and more than half failed Level 1 science. Many choose not to pursue maths and science beyond Level 1, but those who do are more likely to fail than pass.

The New Zealand government is redesigning the curriculum to provide more specific guidance on what to teach and when, but it also needs to be realistic about the primary teacher workforce and provide more support. This should include providing access to specialists for both teachers and some students, and specialist-developed teaching resources, like lesson plans.