A reminder to value teachers' tertiary qualifications - over their teenage achievements

New research has found a quarter of new primary school teachers failed maths, and more than half failed science at NCEA Level One.

More than half who pursued Level Two maths, also failed.

Mark Potter says teachers come into their studies with a variety of achievement levels - depending on what they were interested in as a teenager.

But he says there are all sorts of development that goes into becoming a teacher.

Potter says the vast majority of our teachers are competent - and are highly valued worldwide.