The WA graduate teacher pool: how to apply, how principals pick you and what it pays

What the graduate pool is

The WA Department of Education fills many graduate jobs without separate school-by-school advertising. Instead, graduates apply once to a statewide graduate advertisement, choose the schools or regions, teaching areas and work fraction they want, and principals search that pool when they have a vacancy. Older Department guides call it the Graduate Teacher Pool; current pages and JobsWA call it the Graduate teacher register or the Graduate Teacher advertisement. It works the same way.

Being in the pool doesn't guarantee a job. It makes you visible to every principal looking for a graduate in your teaching area and location. Graduates in the pool can be appointed to permanent and fixed-term vacancies. Older guidance also says graduates can't apply to the separate fixed-term teacher pool, so this is your route in. Final-year students looking for part-time work while they finish can also look at the Pre-Service Teacher Employment Register (up to 0.8 FTE).

Who can apply

Registration is the gate that matters. If you studied outside WA, apply to the TRBWA first; its decision settles whether your qualification is accepted for teaching in WA. Our WA teacher registration guide covers fees and categories.

How to apply, step by step

The two stages: eligibility, then suitability

Principals may contact you to talk about a vacancy, so answer unknown numbers in Term 4 and keep your voicemail professional. A phone conversation is often the interview. Have two or three examples ready from your final placement: a lesson that worked, how you managed a class, and how you adapted for a student who needed it. Our teacher interview questions guide has the common ones, and the STAR examples show how to answer them in under two minutes.

The Advanced Graduate Program (AGP)

The AGP is separate from the pool. It flags high-achieving graduates from WA universities and adds incentives if you start in a regional school. The Department says it is not an employment pool, so you still join the graduate register or apply for jobs.

The AGP application needs evidence of high academic achievement, two referees and a 500-word written response to a question given during the process. Suitable applicants get a short online interview. Full AGP status lasts 12 months, and you must start in a regional school within 12 months of confirmation.

What a WA graduate earns

A qualified graduate starts on Level 2.1, $88,178 from 6 December 2025, and moves up one increment a year on their anniversary date with satisfactory service, reaching Level 2.9 ($127,737) after eight years. Graduates also get the $2,000 Graduate Teacher Allowance for two years, a $150 curriculum materials allowance, and eight extra non-contact days in the first year, according to the Department's graduate page.

The WA agreement expires on 5 December 2026 and a successor is being bargained, so expect the scale to change in 2027. See WA graduate teacher salary and the WA pay rise page for updates.

If you're not picked up

• Widen your preferences. Add regions and a lower work fraction. Many first jobs are 0.6 to 0.8 FTE.
• Get on the casual register. Casual Staff Seeker and the Teacher Flying Squad register put you in front of schools for relief work, and relief days count toward increments (a step every 200 days worked).
• Apply for school-based pools and single vacancies on JobsWA as well. These usually want a written statement; see how to write a WA statement of claims.
• Ask for feedback from any principal who interviewed you.
• Look at Catholic schools. Catholic Education WA hires separately, under its own agreement.