Leave without pay and career breaks for teachers: your options and what they cost

Your four ways to take a break without resigning

Leave without pay: the rules

WA's award spells out the rules most clearly, and other states follow a similar pattern. You can apply for up to one year of leave without pay and request a further 12 months (cl 36(1)). Each application is considered on its merits and may be granted if it doesn't inconvenience the department. If it's refused, you get the reasons in writing.

• Use other leave first (WA). LWOP can only be granted once long service leave, annual leave and remote teaching service leave are exhausted. You don't have to use up personal (sick) leave, or student vacation credits if you are taking LWOP during term (cl 36(6)-(7)).
• Service vs entitlements. LWOP counts as continuous service, so it doesn't break your 10-year LSL clock, but it doesn't earn leave. Only the first two weeks of a block count for personal leave, LSL and annual leave (cl 36(5)).
• Fixed-term contracts: LWOP can't run past the end of your contract.
• Allowances stop. SA's agreement says no period of LWOP attracts the country incentive payment. Most allowances work the same way.

Deferred salary: get paid for your year off

WA offers a scheme where you defer part of your salary over 4 years and are paid the deferred amount in the fifth year while you're on approved leave. Queensland's agreement also includes a deferred salary scheme (4 years' pay spread over 5). It's the closest thing to a paid gap year: you keep a regular income all the way through, and super is usually paid on the salary you actually receive.

Long service leave at half pay

If you have long service leave banked, taking it at half pay is often better than LWOP. 13 weeks at half pay becomes 26 weeks, about two school terms, on a regular income. Victoria and WA allow half pay. Your leave keeps accruing on paid time in most systems. See teacher long service leave for each state's rules.

Study leave and remote teaching leave

Several remote-teaching schemes build in paid time away. In the NT, remote teachers earn special study leave credit points each year: 2 in Category 1, 3 in Category 2 and 5 in Category 3 locations. Twenty points gives one semester on full pay or two on half pay. In SA, permanent Band 1 teachers and some leaders in Anangu and Aboriginal schools get one term of paid study leave after 2 years in those schools. WA's Remote Teaching Service gives 10 weeks of paid RTS leave after 6 semesters and 22 weeks (cumulative) after 8, then a week for each further semester. See teaching in remote communities.

Family responsibility leave in Queensland

Queensland permanent teachers can take unpaid family responsibility leave for up to 7 years, according to Teach Queensland. That's much longer than a standard LWOP year and is designed for raising young children or caring for family. It's unpaid, so plan for super and registration costs.

Other ways to stretch time off

Combining options often works better than one long block of leave without pay. A WA teacher with 10 years' service, for example, could take 13 weeks of long service leave at half pay (26 weeks, about two terms) and then a term of leave without pay, and be back for the start of the next year with only one term unpaid.

The hidden costs of a career break

Working while on leave without pay

Some teachers use LWOP to teach overseas, try another career or relief teach in a different sector. Rules on outside work vary. Many departments require approval for secondary employment, and working for another school system while on LWOP may need permission. Ask HR first. If you're thinking of leaving teaching altogether, see leaving teaching in Australia.