How much do teachers earn per hour in Australia?

Why 'per hour' is tricky for teachers

Permanent teachers are paid an annual salary, not an hourly wage. That salary covers the whole year, including school holidays, and it doesn't change if you stay late marking. So there are three honest ways to express a teacher's hourly rate, and they give very different answers:

1. Per paid hour: salary divided by 52.18 weeks and the standard working week in your agreement (38 hours in most states, 37.5 in SA, 35 in Tasmania (a 70-hour fortnight), 36.75 in the ACT and NT). This is how payroll works out an hourly rate, and it is what part-time and leave calculations use.
2. Per day of the school year: salary divided by the number of days you are required at school. This gives a much higher figure, because holidays are not counted.
3. Per hour actually worked: salary divided by the hours you really work, including evenings and weekends. Only you can calculate this one.

Hourly rate per paid hour, by state

These are the figures that matter for part-time pay. A 0.6 FTE teacher in NSW at Step 7 is paid for 60% of a 38-hour week, so about $80,053 a year. See the part-time teacher pay calculator and our guide to part-time teaching and job share.

Casual relief teacher hourly rates

Casual relief teachers (CRTs) don't get paid holidays, sick leave or annual leave, so their rates include a loading. That makes their hourly rate look much higher than a permanent teacher's, but the comparison is not like for like. A CRT is paid only for days worked, and earns nothing in the school holidays.

The award rate per hour

Teachers in non-government schools and early learning who are paid at the legal minimum fall under the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020. From 1 July 2026, Level 1 is $1,455.40 a week, which is about $38.30 an hour over 38 hours. A casual Level 1 teacher with the 25% loading earns about $47.88 an hour. These are minimums only. See the teachers award guide.

Per day of the school year

Per school day, teaching looks very well paid, because holiday weeks are spread across the days you work. That is real: you are paid in the holidays. But it is also misleading if you then compare it with a job that has four weeks of leave. The fairest comparison with another job is the annual salary, or the per-paid-hour rate above.

Per face-to-face hour

Some people work out a rate per hour of teaching. In Victoria the face-to-face cap is 21 hours a week in primary and 18.5 in secondary. A teacher at 2-6 ($118,063) earns about $2,263 a week, so about $108 per face-to-face hour in primary and $122 in secondary. These numbers are popular online, but they ignore the planning, marking, meetings, duty and reporting that fill the rest of a 38-hour week, and usually more. They are not a useful measure of pay.

Your hourly rate after tax

After-tax figures are the fairest way to compare a teaching job with another offer, or a full-time load with part-time. Because Australian tax is progressive, dropping to part-time lowers your tax rate as well as your pay, so a 0.8 load usually keeps more than 80% of your full-time take-home. The take-home pay calculator shows the exact figure for any FTE.

How to raise your hourly rate

• Move up the steps: in NSW, Step 7 pays 44% more per hour than Step 1. See how teacher pay steps work.
• Apply for HALT certification: NSW pays $141,997, about $71.61 per paid hour.
• Take on a leadership role: a NSW head teacher or assistant principal earns $153,531, about $77.43 per paid hour, though hours often rise too. Use the promotion pay calculator.
• Pick up rural and remote incentives, which add income without adding hours. See rural teaching incentives.