“I don’t want to have a system where, every three or four years, the minister, or the government, and the teachers’ union declare war on each other.”
So said former Western Australian Labor premier Alan Carpenter. He said it in 2004, as the then-state education minister engaged in a pay battle with WA teachers. Nearly a decade later, teacher pay continues to divide; just last week Victorian teachers and the state government reached a pay agreement after a vicious two-year battle that included numerous strikes, teachers refusing to write comments on report cards and government claims that teachers weren’t working the whole time they were on school camp.
But just how much does a teacher in Australia earn?
That mainly depends on two factors: first, in which state they work and second, whether they work for a public, Catholic or private school.
Western Australia is currently the leader in teacher pay in the state system (WA is known for funding its education system well, as seen in its debate over the Gonski reforms). New graduate teachers earn $60,545 this year. Their pay increases in annual increments based on experience until level 2.9, which this year earns a salary of $91,567. Exemplary teachers can apply to become a level 3 classroom teacher — the top teaching position available, which involves community engagement and curriculum development — which earns $101,853.
The other top payers are the NSW and ACT private school systems. Independent schools traditionally follow state government agreements quite closely, and Catholic school teachers earn the same as the public school teacher counterparts. “Independent schools across country on average pay around that rate,” Chris Watt, federal secretary of the Independent Education Union, told Crikey. “There’s a small number that pay less, and in most states there’s a small number that pay more.”
But the Professional Excellence program at the NSW Institute of Teachers and the ACT’s Highly Proficient Teachers standards mean that ACT and NSW private school teachers can go through extensive professional development that results in earnings of up to $8000 more than government school teachers. All states have a teacher standards regime, however in most states, “it’s a pretty large hoop with no flames or no crocodiles on the other size,” said Watt. “In NSW [and ACT], hoops are smaller and there’s flames, plus maybe a lion, maybe a hungry crocodile.”
Graduate teachers earn more than many other professional graduates — assuming they’ve completed a four-year degree. The main issue in teacher pay is often that while graduate pay starts out well, there is often little room for advancement if you want to remain teaching and not move into administration. “Teachers are paid badly … It’s a poor career structure for teachers. I left because of it,” Dr Jill Blackman, a professor of education at Deakin University, told Crikey. “There are very limited levels of advancement. Increments are small.”
The Australian Education Union has a great document outlining what different state governments pay their teachers. Queensland’s 2013 public school graduate teachers started at $58,437, and its most experienced senior teachers will this year earn $85,557. In NSW, graduates are on $59,706, while top teachers earn $89,050. The Northern Territory offers $62,017 to graduates and $114,737 to specialist teachers (top standard classroom teachers earn a maximum of $88,941). The ACT pays $58,041 to its grads and $86,881 to its top teachers. South Australian teachers start on $59,629 and earn up to $85,999, although additional training can bump that up to $89,201. Down in Tasmania, graduates earn $57,565, with the highest paid teachers on $84,184. In Victoria, graduates this year started on $60,220, and top “leading teachers” earn $94,408. The latest Victorian pay agreement will result in teachers earning an extra 16.1% to 20.5% over three years.
“You don’t even get paid well [as a graduate] because you’re on contract the first five years,” noted Blackman. Graduate teachers often struggle to secure a permanent role, and according to the Productivity Commission, last year, 20% of primary school teachers and 13% of secondary school teachers were on fixed-term contracts. This means they are not paid for summer school holidays, as the contracts run just for the school year.
Brett – teachers get 4 weeks a year leave. The other school holiday periods are paid under a salary scarifice type scheme where the teachers annual salary is averaged over the year. Those so-called holidays are the time that teachers spend attending training etc to update their knowledge and qualifications.
As an example – A public servant gets 4 weeks a year leave, they can take up to another 10 weeks that they “purchase” by having their salary reduced to “pay” for the extra time off. Same for teachers to “pay” for those extra “holidays”.
What isn’t accounted for in so much of the debate about teacher hours is the unpaid time preparing classroom lessons, marking exam/test papers and assignments..done after hours at home of an evening or on weekends.
I am not a teacher but did spend 20 years married to one
Greetings, former teacher (high school science) now turned medical doctor.
I have to say I get a little sick of this entire argument. Like perpetual motion, it just keeps spinning around and around. In the red corner always seems to be some hard done by teacher claiming they have the hardest, most important and most under rated and underpaid job in the world. In the blue corner, someone from another profession (which somehow makes them unqualified to have an opinion) saying teachers probably have it fairly good. They might even blaspheme and claim that Teachers have it better than some. These kinds of people keep us doctors employed as we have to stitch them back together after teachers rip them limb from limb. Well, as a once teacher and now not a teacher, I guess I’m qualified to comment on both fronts – pats self on back.
I’d like to address a few of the points in this article and also a few that have come up in the comments section. Forgive me as this became quite long. But I did try to not rant too much.
Firstly, and hear me carefully, I say this as respectfully as possible. I do believe teaches complain too much about their profession. I actually think this is a cultural issue of the profession. After all, if you’re surrounded by 30 other people that bitch about their jobs on a regular basis, soon you will too. As a doctor I have to be a little careful commenting about other medical professions. But I think the same cultural problem exists in nursing. While I respect our nurses deeply, sometimes you do just get a little tired of hearing how hard nurses work, about how the whole hospital system would collapse without them and (of course) how underpaid and underappreciated they are (sounds familiar doesn’t it). Honestly, I think half of the problem is simply that the younger generation come on board, get immersed in this culture of complaining, and soon they are doing it too. Thus the cycle repeats. As a former teacher, I feel that teachers have a fairly decent ride in terms of conditions and pay and should spend a lot less time complaining about their jobs. Teaching is hard, that’s pretty self explanatory! But my father (also a teacher) always called it “work” for good reason. If it was fun, satisfying and could be simply done at a person’s leisure, it’d be called that instead. I once had a student threaten to stab me with a broken glass thermometer and I also remember the late nights and weekends spent planning and marking. So I know all about the “work” bit of Teaching. But big deal! It’s the nature of the career path for any person that has chosen – YES CHOSEN – when they become a teacher. So this really comes down to choice. If it’s really that bad, stop bitching about your job and leave! I did (although I wasn’t disgruntled with the system, I always planned to enter medicine and teach short-term). I’d much prefer a person say it wasn’t the career for them than hear endless justification of how they are working harder than the average person because it happens to be student report week(s). I dunno about you guys, but until I was outside of the system, I had no idea how patronising teachers can be when they tell you how they deserve a “break” after a 10 week term. Come work in the ED with me if you want to know what hard work is all about! On your 16th straight 12 hour (cough, more like 15 hour) night shift, I’ll ask how you’re going. If you can concentrate long enough to formulate a coherent answer, I’ll buy you a case of beer! I’m not trying to spout my own tale of workplace woe here, I actually like working really hard, but if you want to know what long work hours actually looks like, then follow a specialist around. When every day of the week they begin rounds at 5am, drive an hour to their clinic, work a full 8-10 hours and then another hour in traffic back for evening rounds, and maybe (just maybe) home for a re-heated dinner at 930pm, you’ll begin to get an appreciation of a person with a career that actually knows the meaning of unpaid or out of hours work… Oh I forgot, you’ll also need to be there for rounds on Saturday and Sunday too. By comparison to a lot of jobs, teachers may work longer hours, true, but not of the magnitude that some have to endure. And teachers are certainly not unique in this respect. Medicine can often be seen as a lifestyle more than a job. I thought I worked long hours as a teacher. I now chuckle to myself about how much easier it was back in the bad old days of teaching. Yeah teaching is hard work. But people tend to realise that already and don’t need to be convinced by teachers that this is the case. Honestly, ive always found that when people say teachers only work 9-3 and get 8 weeks more holidays its mostly just people stirring the pot a little. Just smile back and have a laugh.
Secondly, the job of a teacher is NO MORE important than any other career! So let our teachers stop thinking they are quite special little snowflakes (sarcasm intended), where in their absence the entire world as we know it would cease to exist. But why? Because there would be no one to educate people and all other professions would simply become impossible – right? All jobs are important; that is F-A-C-T! The same goes for doctors, politicians, lawyers and anyone else wearing a suit of self importance. Without Sanjay working a 12 hour shift for $14.20/h at the local servo, the teacher isn’t getting their salary sacrificed car to school to teach the kids anyway. Therefore, no $14/h Sanjay equates to no super important teacher too. And Sanjay can be seen as having a role of equal importance. As a doctor, I don’t see myself or my job as being any more important than the next person. I’m good and what I do, I’m proud of being in a position that helps others. But I simply see myself as just another lad working to earn a buck and I’m grateful for all other careers. As Mufasa wisely told Simba “We are all part of the circle of life”. Yes the antelope are the lion’s food but when lion dies it becomes the grass that is the food of the antelope. I love a good cartoon when it can show more logic than the average adult.
Thirdly, the lack of career advancement is simply a fact of life for teachers. But seriously, what on earth are people thinking these days? You’d think that all jobs should be blessed with this magical elevator that provides not only a better and more important role but also a salary that is set to ascend with the next rocket Nasa sends to space. Most people I know have little or no opportunity for career advancement. And most certainly won’t have money falling out of their back pocket by the time they serve 20 years in their career. So teachers, get used to it too! $90-100k isn’t a bad salary at all! And remember in 20 years you’ll still be doing the exact same job because that’s what teaching actually involves! Teaching isn’t going to eventually see you as CEO of a multi-national, because teaching has no CEO and isn’t a multi-national. This isn’t evidence that teaching lacks advancement opportunity; it’s just a fact of the system to which you belong. Go work at a tyre shop or Kmart and see what your take home salary becomes. You’ll be back at teaching pretty soon thereafter. Out of my entire catalogue of friends and family, I know ONE person that earns over $100k that isn’t a Doctor or (laughs) a teacher. So teachers, your current salary and realities of your workplace make you normal, not disadvantaged by comparison. Remember to compare apples with apples!
Fourthly (if thats a word), I’d just like to address some miscellaneous issues that have been brought up:
1, Teaching contractors don’t get paid holidays. I’m going to try and contain my sarcasm here…but REEEEAAALLLLYYY! Don’t you find it amazing and unreasonable how teaching contractors don’t get paid outside of their contracted agreements? Ok I’m being sarcastic again. I guess that makes them EXACTLY THE SAME as every other contract position that exists. In medicine, many of our technical staff are contractors. If a machine breaks, or there happens to be a supervising doctor on holidays/sick/not consulting, then contractor sits at home and doesn’t get paid. WTF you say? Non-teaching contractors don’t get paid if they don’t have work? That’s right! So tough luck teachers, the system seems fair for all if you ask me! By the way, normal contractors don’t get paid penalty rates either…gulp.
2, The struggle to find full time work in teaching is not unique to teaching. In fact, I’m not sure why any intelligible argument should be based around this point. Actually there are plenty of unfilled permanent positions in teaching; you just have to know where to look. And you actually have to be prepared to go find the work. Most kids finishing uni have delusions that a well paid job is just waiting to be filled at the closest school to their house in their chosen capital city. But these expectations exist outside of reality. If you’re prepared to teach in rural or remote areas the jobs practically suck you there with more force than a black hole. It’s just when people say “the jobs aren’t there” what they really mean is that a convenient job hasn’t just reached out and grabbed them. Or, the jobs are there but I don’t want to move away from my friends. You want work as a teacher, than be prepared to move outside of Sydney/Melbourne/etc, at least for some time. The point is really this; if more people want the jobs in city areas your chances of getting a job in a rural area is higher. Don’t they call that probability or something scientific like that? I think I taught that in year 7 sciences…and they understood it.
3. I can’t say I follow Achmed’s logic regarding holidays. All jobs, be it salary or wages are averaged over a year. Your hourly rate if you are paid wages isn’t actually an hourly rate…its a division of a yearly amount. Businesses don’t simply say we’ll pay $30/h to an employee with no idea what that might cost over the year. They calculate what a job is worth for their yearly budgets. They say we’re going to pay X amount for this particular job. They then divide the annual amount by the number of hours they expect the role to occupy per year and (ding ding) you have an hourly rate. Teachers DO NOT get a lower salary when compared to a non-teacher just because they have “extra” holidays, and as Achmed said, the average becomes lower. But here’s a kicker. Contracted teachers often get Easter, July and/or October holidays paid as stipulated by their contracts. That’s unusual for a contracted position, and really means they are better off than average because they are getting paid for weeks they aren’t actually in a classroom. A similar argument exists with complaints that teachers should be paid more because they work from home or outside of class time. But this again, this is an unrealistic expectation. If your job pays a 90k salary per year, you get 90k for the year – TOTAL. This is regardless of how many late nights you spend planning or writing reports and how many of those extra holidays you don’t get to spend at the beach because you’re working during school holidays. Teachers are paid a salary, not wages! Teachers, if you need help distinguishing and/or understanding what a salary is, you might need to reconsider your career. I don’t say this to sound unkind, but this means you DO NOT DESERVE to be paid for your home/out of school hours/school holidays work, because this is part of how you earn your given yearly salary. Remember, your salary is per annum. That means per year. Two teachers that have the exact same role earn the same money regardless should one work 100 hours less in the year. If the government wants to change the laws regarding teacher’s employment and puts them on wages, than at that stage you will be deserving of being paid for the total hours you work (as per the example, one would earn 100 hours more, the other 100 less). Until that time comes, which never will, your salary covers your yearly work duties fairly and completely! END OF STORY! Also spare a thought that many careers require duties that go unpaid or even cost money. I have a photographer friend that regularly has to take time out of work that earns his business money to run the mechanics that makes business a reality (E.g. doing his bookwork or seeing his accountant). He also has duties that cost him money (E.g. advertising, quoting, equipment). Those glossy magazine ads don’t pay for themselves and sometimes don’t even attract any business at all. A teacher will never lose money in this way. So again, payment of teachers is fair, complete and not half bad.
4. One of the best things for me being a teacher was the holidays. So I really do not understand the constant bitching by teachers that they can only have holidays at set times. “Sorry, I can’t come to Christmas this year because I’ll be working”, SAID NO TEACHER EVER! I’ve been in medicine now 14 years and I’ve worked all but 3 Christmas days. In fact, this year I am rostered to work every single public holiday except Boxing Day. Teacher, shove that one in your desk drawer and still find scope to pout while you get every one of those public holidays to spend as you wish! Sure, it does get a bit limiting when there is something awesome that you’d like to be doing during school term. But you know what? Most of my friends/family have difficulty getting holidays from their workplaces at the exact times they would like. This is doubly troublesome for those that hold vital positions within their workplaces and also those that own their own business. My wife’s family owned a small restaurant. I met my future wife at 19 years of age and her entire life to that point she had not been on one single family holiday that was longer than a 4 day Christmas weekend. She also spent most of her school holidays working at the restaurant because her family wasn’t going anywhere else those holidays anyway.
Teachers get a pretty good ride in this country. Sure it is a hard and often thankless career, but so are many. We’d all like to earn a heap more while working a heap less. But reality is what it is. And remember, all careers that require a university qualification are careers that are voluntary. I’ve never seen anyone thrown in a hessian sack and threatened with death if they should not attend/pass uni and become a life-long teacher. It might not have been your ideal career, but never the less you became a teacher because at some stage you pointed your feet in that direction. Just take the extra holidays, the pay that will see you live a well provided life and live with it. Or don’t live with it and re-educate, re-train and go off on another path. Just don’t spend your entire working life whinging about your job! And don’t be thoughtless and condescending by going around telling people how you should get more money, how utterly overworked you are and how you deserve a break every 10 weeks (unlike everyone else) because you work harder than the average person. Teachers of all breeds should spend more time realising they are the rule and not the exception and expect to be treated and compensated as such. End rant 🙂
This article barely scratches the surface of the teacher pay issue, and it’s biased toward those who continue to maintain teachers are underpaid. Jill Blackman is hardly a disinterested observer – she’s paid good money to create them – so it’s no surprise she thinks teachers are badly paid. How well are graduate teachers paid compared with other graduates? What are the extra holidays and shorter hours worth? Do your bloody homework, Amber.
Try being a journalist!
Wow ! A “teacher hater” & “journo hater”.