0.8 FTE Meaning for Teachers: Part-Time Pay Explained

On this page (7 sections)

What each FTE fraction means
FTE in teaching hours, state by state
Part-time teacher pay and take-home
Leave and super when you're part-time
Do part-time teachers move up the pay scale?
Hourly rate: part-time vs full-time
FAQs

The short answer

FTE (full-time equivalent) is the share of a full-time teaching load you work. 0.8 FTE means four days a week and 80% of full-time pay; 0.6 is three days and 60%, 0.5 is two and a half days and 0.4 is two days. A NSW teacher at Step 5 ($115,972) earns $92,778 at 0.8 FTE, about $2,791 a fortnight after tax.

Each 0.2 FTE is one day of a five-day week.
You stay on your full-time step; only the dollars are scaled.
Leave, super and most allowances are pro rata to your FTE.
Secondary schools often set FTE in periods or lines, not days.

What each FTE fraction means

Common teacher FTE fractions in a five-day week

FTE	Days a week	Share of full-time pay	Typical use
1.0	5	100%	Full-time
0.8	4	80%	Four days, very common after parental leave
0.6	3	60%	Three days, or a 0.6/0.4 job share
0.5	2.5	50%	Half-time, often a 0.5/0.5 job share or mornings only
0.4	2	40%	Two days, often a specialist or release-from-face-to-face (RFF) teacher
0.2	1	20%	One day a week, often RFF or a specialist program

Some schools use other fractions, such as 0.7 or 0.92, especially in secondary, where FTE follows the number of classes (lines) you teach.

In primary schools FTE usually maps neatly to days. In secondary schools it's more often worked out from your teaching load: if a full load is a set number of periods a cycle, 0.8 FTE is 80% of those periods, and you may be on site parts of five days rather than four whole days. Your contract or letter of offer should state both the FTE and the days or pattern. If it only gives the FTE, ask for the pattern in writing.

Work out your take-home pay

⚙Your details

State or territory

Salary

Pay step (NSW, from 9 October 2026)

Load (FTE)100% full-time

I have a HECS-HELP debtCompulsory repayments use the 2026–27 marginal thresholds.

Show results

Take-home pay fortnightly

$2,794

From $92,882 a year · New South Wales · effective tax rate 21.8%

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%)

Period	Gross	Tax + Medicare	Super (employer)	Take-home
Annually	$92,882	$20,242	$11,146	$72,640
Monthly	$7,740	$1,687	$929	$6,053
Fortnightly	$3,572	$779	$429	$2,794
Weekly	$1,786	$389	$214	$1,397

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: Crown Employees (Teachers in Schools and Related Employees) Salaries and Conditions Award 2024, verified 16 October 2026.

FTE in teaching hours, state by state

Maximum face-to-face teaching at full-time, and what 0.8 and 0.6 FTE work out to (our arithmetic)

State	Full-time face-to-face maximum	0.8 FTE	0.6 FTE	Ordinary hours (full-time)
NSW	Primary 21h45m a week; high school up to 28 periods of 40 minutes plus sport	Primary 17h24m	Primary 13h03m	Not set as a weekly figure in our data
VIC	Primary 21h; secondary 18h30m	16h48m / 14h48m	12h36m / 11h06m	38 hours a week (30h24m at 0.8)
QLD	Not verified	-	-	Not verified
WA	21h20m (all phases)	17h04m	12h48m	Not in our data
SA	Primary 22h30m; secondary 21h	18h / 16h48m	13h30m / 12h36m	Not in our data
TAS	Primary 42h a fortnight; secondary 40h, within a 70-hour fortnight	33h36m / 32h a fortnight	25h12m / 24h a fortnight	70 hours a fortnight
ACT	Primary 21h; high school and college 19h averaged	16h48m / 15h12m	12h36m / 11h24m	36h45m a week
NT	Primary 22h40m (22h10m from Term 1 2027); secondary 21h20m	18h08m / 17h04m	13h36m / 12h48m	36h45m a week

Full-time limits from each state's agreement or award as recorded in our state data. The 0.8 and 0.6 columns simply multiply by the fraction; your school may round to whole periods or sessions. Beginning teachers in several states teach less face-to-face. For Queensland, check the certified agreement or ask the QTU.

Part-time teacher pay and take-home

NSW Step 5 ($115,972 from 9 October 2026) at each FTE, 2026-27 tax

FTE	Gross a year	Take-home a year	Take-home a fortnight	With HELP debt (a year)	Employer super (12%)
1.0	$115,972	$88,341	$3,398	$81,374	$13,917
0.8	$92,778	$72,569	$2,791	$69,082	$11,133
0.6	$69,583	$56,796	$2,184	$56,788	$8,350
0.5	$57,986	$49,041	$1,886	$49,041	$6,958
0.4	$46,389	$41,329	$1,590	$41,329	$5,567

Take-home from our 2026-27 tax engine: income tax after the low income tax offset, plus 2% Medicare. HELP repayments only start above $69,528 in 2026-27, so they barely touch 0.6 FTE and don't apply at 0.5 or 0.4.

Free calculator

Part-time teacher pay calculator

Pick your state, step and FTE to see gross and take-home pay, super, and what one more day is worth.

Calculate part-time pay

Top classroom step at 0.8, 0.6 and 0.4 FTE in each state (gross a year)

State	Top step (full-time)	0.8 FTE	0.6 FTE	0.4 FTE
NSW	$133,422 (Step 7)	$106,738	$80,053	$53,369
VIC	$133,456 (2-6, VGSA 2026)	$106,765	$80,074	$53,382
QLD	$119,357 (Band 3 Step 4)	$95,486	$71,614	$47,743
WA	$127,737 (Level 2.9)	$102,190	$76,642	$51,095
SA	$123,236 (Step 9)	$98,589	$73,942	$49,294
TAS	$122,393 (Level 13)	$97,914	$73,436	$48,957
ACT	$129,106 (TL8)	$103,285	$77,464	$51,642
NT	$136,997 (CT9)	$109,598	$82,198	$54,799

Our calculation: full-time rate x FTE. Victoria's top step rose from $118,063 to $133,456 from 1 October 2026 under the VGSA 2026 (approved 16 October 2026), with back pay pro rata. For graduate rates at 0.6, see part-time teaching and job share.

Worked example

Is a fourth day worth it? NSW Step 5, 0.6 to 0.8 FTE

Gross at 0.6 FTE: $69,583
Gross at 0.8 FTE: $92,778
Extra gross: $23,195
Extra take-home (no HELP): $15,773
Extra take-home with a HELP debt: $12,294
Extra employer super: $2,783

Take-home from the extra day, per week of the year about $303

Take-home from our 2026-27 tax engine. The extra day is taxed at 32% (30% plus Medicare), and with a HELP debt a further 15c per dollar over the threshold. Compare the extra take-home, not the gross, with the cost of a day of childcare.

Leave and super when you're part-time

School holidays: paid at your FTE, all year round. A 0.6 teacher gets 60% of salary every fortnight, including January.
Sick leave: pro rata. NSW gives full-time teachers 15 days a year, so a 0.6 teacher accrues the equivalent of 9 full-time days, used on days they'd normally work.
Long service leave: part-time service counts as service; the leave is usually paid at your average fraction. Check how your state averages mixed full- and part-time years.
Parental leave: paid weeks are paid at your FTE when the leave starts. See teacher parental leave.
Super: your employer's rate (12%, or 12.75% in Queensland and 12.5% in the ACT) applies to what you actually earn. At 0.6 FTE on NSW Step 5 that's $8,350 a year instead of $13,917.
Allowances and one-off payments: usually pro rata. Victoria's $2,000 VGSA 2026 lump sum is pro rata for part-timers, as are NT remote incentive allowances and Victorian targeted incentives.

Do part-time teachers move up the pay scale?

Yes, but the rules differ, and this is where part-timers most often lose money without noticing. Ask HR or your union how your service is counted before you assume your step will move on schedule.

How service counts towards increments (what our research found)

State	Rule	What it means for part-timers
NSW	A year of service is 203 days of full-time service	Check with HR how part-time days are credited; NESA also gives part-time teachers 7 years (not 5) to log 100 PD hours
VIC	One subdivision per 1 May to 30 April cycle, with at least 6 months' eligible service	Progression depends on the performance cycle, not hours; confirm how your fraction is treated
QLD	Senior Teacher and EST service counts in years regardless of work fraction (since 1 January 2022)	Part-timers reach ST and EST on the same timeline as full-timers
WA	Annual increments on your anniversary with satisfactory service; relief teachers move after every 200 days worked	Confirm with HR how a part-time year counts
NT	One CT level after each 12 months' service, continuous or broken; 180 days of relief work counts as a year	Confirm how part-time service is credited
SA, TAS, ACT	Annual increments (ACT on a single 27 January date)	Part-time treatment not verified; ask your department or union

From our state data and the QTU. We haven't verified every state's part-time crediting rule, so treat 'confirm' rows as a prompt to check, not a sign of a problem. See how teacher pay steps work.

Hourly rate: part-time vs full-time

Your hourly rate doesn't change when you go part-time; your hours and pay scale down together. What often changes is the unpaid work. Meetings, reports, parent interviews and camps don't always shrink in proportion, so a 0.6 teacher can end up working well over 60% of a full-time week. Several agreements now cap meetings (Victoria's VGSA 2026 caps directed meetings at 40 hours a year from 2027, and NSW caps regular after-school meetings at one hour a week), but ask your principal how they're applied to part-timers. For the hourly maths, see teacher hourly rate.

Before you accept a part-time offer

The FTE and the days or periods are both in writing.
You know whether it's permanent part-time or a fixed-term variation, and what happens at the end.
You've checked how your service counts towards your next pay step.
You know which meetings, reports and events you're expected to attend on non-working days.
You've run the take-home figures, including HELP, for the fraction you're considering.
If you're in a defined benefit scheme, you've asked how the change affects your benefit.

Frequently asked questions

What does 0.8 FTE mean for a teacher?

0.8 FTE means you work 80% of a full-time load, usually four days a week, for 80% of your step's salary. A NSW Step 5 teacher at 0.8 earns $92,778 a year from October 2026, about $2,791 a fortnight after tax.

How many days is 0.6 FTE?

Three days a week in a five-day week. In secondary schools it can instead be 60% of a full teaching load spread across more days, so check the pattern in your offer.

What is a 0.6 FTE teacher salary?

Your full-time step salary times 0.6. At NSW Step 5 that's $69,583 a year from 9 October 2026, or about $2,184 a fortnight after tax.

Is 0.5 FTE the same as half-time?

Yes. 0.5 FTE is half a full-time load: two and a half days, or five half-days, at 50% of full-time pay.

Do part-time teachers get paid in the school holidays?

Yes. Permanent and fixed-term part-time teachers are paid their FTE share of salary every fortnight, including school holidays.

Do part-time teachers get the same hourly rate?

Yes. Pay is your full-time salary scaled by FTE, so the hourly rate is the same; only the hours and total pay fall.

Does part-time work slow down pay progression?

It can, depending on your state's rule. Queensland counts Senior Teacher and EST service in years regardless of fraction, but NSW defines a year as 203 days of full-time service, so ask HR how your days are credited.

Is super pro rata for part-time teachers?

Yes. Your employer pays its super rate on what you earn, so a 0.6 FTE teacher gets 60% of the full-time contribution.

Sources we checked · last verified 2026-10-28

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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