"I would like the Commonwealth to more closely align supply and demand," he said.

"Universities are enrolling mountains of people irrespective of the ATAR they get. I would prefer a quota where you gave positions to universities based on workforce demand.

"If the workforce planning says there is a need for 500 primary places, there is 500 primary places and if you don't get into primary [teaching] there are other places for science and maths."

Mr Piccoli is pushing to improve the quality of teachers in response to concerns that an oversupply of trainee teachers is driving down standards through lower university entry requirements.

"I would like to see the teaching profession as it is perceived at university, the same as medicine, law, accounting," he said. "To be a doctor or a lawyer, universities only take a certain number and there are very strict conditions around what has to be taught. It should be a very similar approach with teaching.

"We don't just enrol anybody who wants to do medicine, irrespective of what ATAR they have."

The NSW government has introduced tougher requirements for students wanting to study teaching at university.

From this month, year 12 students will have to achieve band fives in three Higher School Certificate subjects, including English.

"We are setting the bar higher," Mr Piccoli said.

"In the same way that I want somebody taking my appendix out to be really clever, I want whoever is teaching my children to be really clever as well.

"To get into teaching at the moment it is almost irrespective of what ATAR you get."

Pennant Hills High School student Alexander Kraefft, 16, plans to study to become a primary school teacher after he completes year 12 next year.

He is not phased by the new requirement for him to achieve three band fives.

"I like it, I'm strongly for the requirements. It sets a benchmark in standards for teaching and it ensures children are getting the best education possible," he said.

The NSW government is also introducing new literacy and numeracy tests teacher education students will need to pass before they start their final professional placement. The quality of the practical in-school training is also being upgraded.

All teachers will also need to be accredited and undertake continuing professional development. Extra support will be provided to beginning teachers and teachers returning to the profession will need to complete a refresher course.

New systems to manage underperforming teachers and reward high performers are also being developed.

A spokesman for the Federal Minister for Education, Christopher Pyne, said the recent Kemp Norton review of the demand-driven system found reintroducing caps on places would be a retrograde step.

"It is not something the Australian government supports," he said.

"Increased competition and the need to attract students will mean universities will focus on courses that have a clear career path for graduates."

A Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group is examining the quality of teacher education, including entry requirements, and will report to the federal government later this year.

The Australian Council of Deans of Education president-elect, Tania Aspland, said an ATAR score was "not an indicator of what makes a good teacher".

Professor Aspland, who works at the Australian Catholic University, said universities did their own quality filtering.

"For every 300 who start, there are 100 who don't finish. I am absolutely confident we have the best quality graduates we have ever had," she said.