Teacher Workload Rights 2026: Hours, Caps and Meetings

On this page (7 sections)

Face-to-face teaching caps by state
Ordinary hours and planning time
Meeting caps
The right to disconnect
How to raise a workload problem
Workload is now a bargaining issue
FAQs

The short answer

Your agreement caps how much face-to-face teaching you can be given: about 21 hours a week in most primary schools and 18.5 to 21 hours in secondary. Many agreements also cap meetings, such as 1 hour a week of after-school meetings in NSW and 5 hours a term in WA. Outside the cap, workload is managed through your principal and the agreement's dispute steps.

Ordinary hours are set too: 38 a week in Victoria, 36.75 in the ACT and NT.
Beginning teachers get a lighter load in most states.
Teachers under the Fair Work Act have a legal right to disconnect outside hours, unless refusing is unreasonable.

Face-to-face teaching caps by state

The single most important workload rule is the face-to-face cap: the most time you can be timetabled to teach students each week. The rest of your hours cover planning, marking, meetings and duties. These are the caps for full-time classroom teachers in government schools.

Maximum face-to-face teaching for full-time classroom teachers, checked 16 October 2026

State	Primary	Secondary	Beginning teachers
NSW	21h45m a week	Up to 28 x 40-minute periods plus up to 3 sport periods	Not in our data
VIC	21 hours a week	18.5 hours a week	At least 5% fewer scheduled duties in year 1 (VGSA 2026)
QLD	Not in our data	Not in our data	Not in our data
WA	21h20m a week	21h20m a week	0.05 FTE extra release in year 1
SA	22h30m a week (min 4h10m non-instruction)	21 hours (min 5h40m non-instruction)	Primary 20h15m; secondary 18h54m
TAS	42 hours a fortnight	40 hours a fortnight	Release time reported as 4 hours a fortnight in year 1, 2 in year 2
ACT	21 hours a week	19 hours averaged (no more than 20 without agreement)	Year 1: 18.5 (primary) / 17 (secondary)
NT	22h40m from Term 1 2026; 22h10m from Term 1 2027	21h20m	Not in our data

From each state's agreement or award as summarised in our state data. QLD's agreement handles non-contact time differently and the QTU says it is not in dispute in the current arbitration. SA's caps fall by 60 minutes a week in phases by school category (Category 3 schools in 2026).

Work out your pay rise and back pay

⚙Your details

State or territory

New pay rates

Your step (old rates from 9 October 2025)

Load (FTE)100% full-time

Back pay runs from

Default: the new rates' operative date, 9 October 2026.

Expected payment date

When the back pay lands. Default: six weeks from today. New rates apply from the following pay.

One-off lump sum (optional)

E.g. a sign-on or cost-of-living payment in the agreement (gross).

I have a HECS-HELP debt

Back pay owed (before tax)

$505

4.9 fortnights from 9 October 2026 to 16 December 2026 · about $344 after tax

New salary

$92,882

+3.0% on $90,177

Rise per fortnight

$104

$71 after tax

Tax on back pay

$162

32% of the lump

Back pay in hand

$344

Working	Amount
Old pay per fortnight (Step 1)	$3,468.35
New pay per fortnight (from 9 October 2026)	$3,572.38
Fortnights owed	4.9
Back pay on salary	$505.33
One-off lump sum	$0.00
Total before tax	$505.33
Tax withheld (estimate)	$161.71
Net back pay	$343.62

What this means

From 9 October 2026 you should have been paid $104 more each fortnight. Because the new rates weren't paid yet, the difference builds up and arrives as one back payment: about $505 before tax. After that, your fortnightly take-home goes from $2,723 to $2,794.

Payroll taxes back pay at your marginal rate rather than spreading it, so roughly 32% comes off. That's your actual tax on the money: it doesn't push the rest of your salary into a higher bracket. These are the latest rates already in force: if they are on your payslip, nothing is owed. This shows what you're owed if payroll was late applying them.

Estimate only. Back pay = (new − old) fortnightly pay × fortnights between the two dates, using the pay column in force at the start of each fortnight. Tax uses the ATO marginal-rate method on your annual salary for 2026–27; back pay for an earlier financial year over $1,200 may be taxed differently and is reported as a lump sum E. Old rates: 9 October 2025 column; Crown Employees (Teachers in Schools and Related Employees) Salaries and Conditions Award 2024, verified 16 October 2026.

Ordinary hours and planning time

Victoria: a 38-hour week under the '30 plus 8' model in the agreement. From 2027 under the VGSA 2026: directed meetings capped at 40 hours a year (2 hours a week), 40 hours a year of teacher-set planning and PD time, and 4 Professional Practice Days a year (1 in 2026).
ACT: 36.75 ordinary hours a week; at most 197 school days, 193 of them teaching days; the first day of each term is a student-free planning day.
NT: 36h45m a week. Primary non-contact time at least 4 hours a week from 2026 and 4h30m from 2027; secondary 5h20m.
WA: DOTT (planning) time of 320 minutes a week in secondary, pre-primary and kindergarten, and 270 minutes in primary.
Tasmania: the instructional load sits within a 70-hour fortnight. From 2027, 3 professional activity days a year.
NSW: in 2026 the Department funds curriculum reform release time, about 5 hours a term per teacher where possible.
Queensland: the 2022 agreement gives 3 hours of student-free-day time at teachers' discretion and extra admin time for teaching principals.

Meeting caps

Limits on meetings outside teaching time

State	Meeting limit
NSW	Regular after-school meetings capped at 1 hour a week (2024 award deal)
VIC	From 2027: directed meetings capped at 40 hours a year (VGSA 2026)
WA	Whole-staff meetings outside instruction time capped at 5 hours a term; formal parent interviews outside hours at 2 a year
TAS	After-school meetings capped at 80 hours in 2026 and 60 hours in 2027, plus one meeting-free week each term
SA, QLD, ACT, NT	No specific cap in our data; check your agreement

Victorian figures are from the VGSA 2026, approved by the Fair Work Commission on 16 October 2026.

Worked example

What 5 unpaid extra hours a week are worth (ACT, top of scale)

Salary (TL8, from 4 Dec 2025): $129,106
Weekly pay ($129,106 / 52.18): about $2,474
Hourly rate over 36.75 ordinary hours: about $67.33
5 extra hours a week: about $337
Across about 39 school weeks (197 days / 5): x 39.4

Value of the unpaid time each year about $13,260

An illustration, not a claim you can make: teachers are salaried and are not paid overtime for routine extra hours. It shows why caps matter in bargaining.

Free calculator

Teacher hourly rate calculator

Put in your salary and the hours you really work to see your true hourly rate.

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The right to disconnect

Since 26 August 2024, employees of non-small business employers under the Fair Work Act can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from their employer, or from a third party such as a parent, outside working hours, unless refusing is unreasonable. It does not make the contact illegal; it gives you the right not to answer.

Whether refusing is unreasonable depends on the reason for the contact, your role and responsibilities, your personal circumstances (such as caring duties), how disruptive the contact is, and whether you are paid for out-of-hours availability. The Fair Work Commission can deal with disputes, including by making a stop order.

Who the Fair Work Act right to disconnect covers

Covered by the federal right to disconnect

ACT and NT public school teachers
Victorian government school teachers
Catholic and independent school teachers in every state

Under state law instead

NSW, QLD, WA, SA and TAS public school teachers
Tasmania's 2025 agreement adds its own right to disconnect
Queensland's 2022 agreement has an 'encouragement to disconnect' clause

How to raise a workload problem

1

Keep a simple log

For two or three weeks, note your timetabled teaching, duties, meetings and the extra tasks you are given. Concrete numbers are hard to dismiss.
2

Find the clause

Look up the face-to-face cap, meeting limits and release time in your agreement or award. Your union's website usually has a plain-English summary.
3

Talk to your principal, then put it in writing

Ask for the specific change you want, such as removing a duty or meeting. Follow up with a short email recording what was agreed.
4

Involve your union rep

If nothing changes, your school's union representative or organiser can raise it, often for several staff at once.
5

Use the dispute procedure

Agreements have a dispute settlement process that can end with the industrial commission. Your union will usually run this step.

Workload is now a bargaining issue

Recent deals and disputes show workload moving to the centre of bargaining. Victoria's VGSA 2026 caps directed meetings from 2027. Tasmania's 2025 agreement caps meetings and adds a right to disconnect. SA is cutting face-to-face time by an hour a week, phased by school category to 2029. In the ACT dispute, the minister has said the focus is now workload, after members rejected the pay offer.

If you are thinking about going part-time to manage the load, see part-time teaching and job share and the part-time pay calculator. For the disputes still running, see teacher strikes in 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How many hours can a teacher be made to teach a week?

It depends on your state and level. Primary caps are around 21 to 22.5 hours a week (NSW 21h45m, VIC 21, WA 21h20m, SA 22h30m). Secondary caps range from 18.5 hours in Victoria to 21h20m in WA and the NT.

Do teachers get paid overtime?

Generally no. Classroom teachers are salaried, and extra hours for planning, marking or events are not paid as overtime. Agreements control workload with face-to-face caps, meeting limits and release time instead. Some agreements pay allowances for camps or overnight activities.

Can my principal make me attend meetings after school?

Within limits. NSW caps regular after-school meetings at 1 hour a week, WA at 5 hours a term for whole-staff meetings, and Tasmania at 80 hours in 2026. Check your agreement for your cap.

Do teachers have a right to disconnect?

Teachers under the Fair Work Act do: that covers ACT, NT and Victorian government schools and all Catholic and independent schools. You can refuse out-of-hours contact unless refusing is unreasonable. Tasmania's agreement has its own right to disconnect.

What is RFF or DOTT time?

It is time in your working week without students, for planning and preparation. NSW calls it release from face-to-face (RFF), WA calls it DOTT. WA gives 270 minutes a week in primary and 320 minutes in secondary.

Do graduate teachers get a reduced load?

In most states, yes. ACT New Educators teach 18.5 hours (primary) or 17 hours (secondary) in year 1, SA beginning teachers teach 20h15m (primary) or 18h54m (secondary), and WA graduates get 0.05 FTE extra release.

What can I do if my workload breaches the agreement?

Raise it with your principal with the clause in hand, then put it in writing. If it is not fixed, involve your union representative, who can use the agreement's dispute settlement process.

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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