On this page (8 sections)
- Victorian support for student teachers at a glance
- Teach the Future Fellowships: $10,000
- The closed Secondary Teaching Scholarships
- Placement grants: up to $200 a day
- Paid degrees: Teach Today, Teach Tomorrow and Aspiring Koorie Teachers Now
- Money once you graduate
- How to put a Victorian funding plan together
- FAQs
The short answer
Victoria's big Secondary Teaching Scholarships are closed: they only covered students enrolled in 2024 and 2025. In 2026 the options are Teach the Future Fellowships ($10,000 for 200 STEM, EAL or special education undergraduates), placement grants of $100 to $200 a day and paid Teach Today and Teach Tomorrow degrees. Graduates in hard-to-staff schools can get up to $50,000.
- Teach the Future applications for 2026 have closed (page updated 29 September 2026).
- Placement grants apply to placements from 28 January to 31 December 2026.
- Teach Today and Teach Tomorrow pay you as a school employee while you study.
- The Commonwealth Teaching Scholarship is open to Victorians too.
Victorian support for student teachers at a glance
Source: Victorian Department of Education Policy and Advisory Library, Attraction initiatives (updated 21 July 2026); vic.gov.au Teach the Future page (updated 29 September 2026).
Work out your take-home pay
⚙Your details
Salary
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Take-home pay fortnightly
$2,794
Gross pay
$3,572
Income tax
$707
After the low income tax offset
Medicare levy
$71
Employer super
$429
12.0% paid on top
Where each dollar goes
- Take-home$72,640 (78%)
- Income tax$18,385 (20%)
- Medicare levy$1,858 (2%)
- HECS-HELP$0 (0%)
- Salary sacrifice & packaging$0 (0%)
After the next scheduled rise (1 November 2027)
1-1 becomes $96,598 full-time.
+$97 /fortnight
What your payslip should show
PAYG withheld each fortnight should be about $780 (ATO Scale 2, tax-free threshold claimed). Small differences come from rounding and 27-pay years. Your marginal rate is 32% including Medicare, so each extra $1,000 of salary adds about $680 to take-home.
Estimates for an Australian resident for 2026–27 who claims the tax-free threshold, with no other income, no dependants and private hospital cover not required. Medicare levy uses the 2025–26 low-income thresholds (2026–27 not yet published). Pay data: Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2026, verified 28 October 2026.
Teach the Future Fellowships: $10,000
There were 200 fellowships in 2026, worth $10,000 over a 4-year (full-time equivalent) degree. You get $8,000 in your first year, then $2,000 after you complete your Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) in your fellowship specialism at an eligible rural, regional or growth-corridor school. Round 1 fellows are paid from the second half of 2026 and Round 2 fellows from the first half of 2027. Fellows also get mentoring and networking.
The six eligibility rules for 2026
- A Victorian or designated border community resident domestic student: Australian citizen, permanent resident, New Zealand citizen living in Victoria, or permanent humanitarian visa holder.
- Living mainly in Victoria or a designated border community during the degree.
- Enrolled in an eligible VIT-accredited (or equivalent) undergraduate teaching degree with a first census date between 1 January and 1 September 2026.
- Starting the first year of a secondary or specialist degree in 2026 (dual primary-secondary, secondary-specialist and primary-specialist degrees count).
- Studying at least 50% of a full-time load.
- Specialising in STEM, English as an Additional Language and/or special education.
Victoria hasn't announced 2027 fellowship rounds on the pages we checked. If you're finishing Year 12 in 2026, watch the vic.gov.au page and apply for the Commonwealth Teaching Scholarship as well, which is worth up to $40,000 for an undergraduate degree.
The closed Secondary Teaching Scholarships
The Secondary Teaching Scholarships were designed so that, across study payments and later payments for working two years in Victorian government secondary or specialist schools, the total matched standard HELP fees for a Commonwealth supported place. They applied only to students who first enrolled in 2024 or 2025. If you're one of them, your later payments still depend on meeting the work conditions. Anyone enrolling now can't apply, whatever older articles say.
Placement grants: up to $200 a day
Ask your university placement coordinator whether a school is eligible. Source: Victorian Department of Education PAL.
A 4-week placement at a small rural specialist school, with the Prac Payment
- Placement grant (20 days x $200)
- $4,000
- Commonwealth Prac Payment (4 weeks x $338.60, if eligible)
- $1,354.40
The Prac Payment is means-tested and for students in Commonwealth supported places. Check with your university that the two can be combined for your placement.
Paid degrees: Teach Today, Teach Tomorrow and Aspiring Koorie Teachers Now
These are employment-based programs. You're employed by a Victorian government school, usually as education support staff or a teaching paraprofessional, while you complete an accredited degree in 18 to 24 months, with a university mentor and a school mentor. Victoria describes a department-funded scholarship but doesn't publish its value; older cohorts' amounts quoted on other websites aren't confirmed. Ask the program team (teach.today.teach.tomorrow@education.vic.gov.au) or your university for the current figure.
Aspiring Koorie Teachers Now does the same for First Nations pre-service teachers and education support trainees, with the department subsidising pay through the host school over 12 to 24 months. For other states' versions, see employment-based teaching pathways.
Free calculator
Cost to become a teacher calculator
Compare a standard degree with placement grants and the Prac Payment against a paid employment-based degree.
Compare my optionsMoney once you graduate
Victoria's biggest payments go to qualified teachers in hard-to-staff schools. Targeted Financial Incentives pay up to $50,000 before tax on starting, plus $10,000 retention payments after years 2, 3 and 4, for a minimum 2-year commitment (50 roles for Term 4 2026 and Term 1 2027). The Regional Relocation Incentive pays up to $30,000 in retention payments plus up to $5,000 relocation for VIT-registered teachers who move.
A Targeted Financial Incentive in a graduate's first year (2026-27)
- Graduate salary, range 1-1 (VGSA 2026 rate from 1 Oct 2026)
- $92,882
- Commencement incentive
- $50,000
- Extra tax on the incentive
- $16,552
- Incentive kept after tax
- $33,448
From our 2026-27 tax engine, no HELP debt. Uses the full-year 1 October 2026 rate. On the old VGSA 2022 rate of $79,589 the incentive kept about $34,000 after tax.
How to put a Victorian funding plan together
- 1
Lock in a Commonwealth supported place
Fees are about $4,738 a full-time year in 2026. See Master of Teaching cost for postgraduates.
- 2
Apply for national support
The Prac Payment and the Commonwealth Teaching Scholarship are open to Victorian students.
- 3
Choose placements that pay
Ask for eligible rural, remote or specialist placements to get the daily grant.
- 4
Watch for 2027 fellowship rounds
If you're starting an eligible STEM, EAL or special education degree, check the Teach the Future page early in the year.
- 5
Plan your first job
A hard-to-staff role can pay up to $50,000 upfront plus $30,000 in retention payments.
Frequently asked questions
Are Victorian teaching scholarships still available?
How much is the Teach the Future Fellowship?
Who can get a Teach the Future Fellowship?
Do Victorian student teachers get paid on placement?
How much is the Teach Today scholarship?
What incentives are there for teachers in rural Victoria?
Sources we checked · last verified 2026-10-28
- 1.Victorian Department of Education PAL: Attraction initiatives
- 2.vic.gov.au: Teach the Future Fellowship Program
- 3.vic.gov.au: Employment-based teaching degrees
- 4.Victorian Department of Education PAL: Teach Today Teach Tomorrow
- 5.vic.gov.au: Targeted initiative to attract more teachers
- 6.Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2026
- 7.Department of Education: Commonwealth Prac Payment
About this page
Written and fact-checked by the TeacherPay AU Editorial Team against the enterprise agreements, awards and official pages listed in the sources. It is general information, not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it, usually within a day. See our editorial policy and how we calculate.
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