The VGSA 2022's nominal expiry date was 31 December 2025 and 1 July 2025 is the last salary column it makes. The department has not published a newer schedule, so the rates below are what is published and payable.
An in-principle replacement agreement was announced on 17 August 2026, promising increases of 28.3% to 32.4% over four years and taking an experienced teacher from $118,063 to $151,419 by 2029. No new salary schedule has been published, so no figure from it is tabled here — this page will not estimate one.
Which agreement sets VIC teacher pay
Victoria public school teacher salaries are set by the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022 (VGSA 2022), the instrument Victorian Department of Education pays against. The rates below took effect from the first pay period on or after 1 July 2025 and were read from that instrument on 28 August 2026.
Next scheduled increase: not yet published. 1 July 2025 is the final salary column the VGSA 2022 makes. A replacement agreement was announced in-principle on 17 August 2026, but no new salary schedule has been published, so this page does not show one.
These are the government (public) school scales. Catholic systemic and independent schools in Victoria negotiate their own agreements and are not covered here.
VIC teacher pay scale — every classification and step
Full-time annual salaries before tax and before superannuation. Part-time teachers are paid these rates pro rata on their time fraction.
Classroom teachers — Range 1 and Range 2
The classroom teacher classification has two salary ranges, each divided into subdivisions. This is the scale every Victorian government school teacher starts on, primary and secondary alike.
| Subdivision | Annual salary | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | $79,589 | Graduate entry point |
| 1-2 | $81,676 | |
| 1-3 | $84,690 | |
| 1-4 | $87,814 | |
| 1-5 | $91,056 | Top of Range 1 |
| 2-1 | $94,415 | |
| 2-2 | $97,899 | |
| 2-3 | $101,512 | |
| 2-4 | $105,258 | |
| 2-5 | $109,142 | |
| 2-6 | $118,063 | Top of the classroom teacher scale |
Every salary links to its take-home figure. Where a salary is not a round $5,000 the link goes to the nearest amount the calculator publishes.
Leading teachers and learning specialists — Range 3
Both classifications sit in Range 3 and are paid identically. They are fixed-term appointments made by the principal, not a step you age into.
Every salary links to its take-home figure. Where a salary is not a round $5,000 the link goes to the nearest amount the calculator publishes.
Assistant principals — Range 1 to Range 4
The principal, having regard to the duties and the funding available in the school, determines how many assistant principal positions there are and which range each sits in.
| Range and subdivision | Annual salary | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | $136,022 | |
| 1-2 | $138,782 | |
| 1-3 | $142,806 | |
| 1-4 | $147,347 | |
| 2-1 | $148,890 | |
| 2-2 | $152,165 | |
| 2-3 | $155,514 | |
| 2-4 | $161,584 | |
| 3-1 | $165,139 | |
| 3-2 | $168,772 | |
| 3-3 | $172,485 | |
| 3-4 | $175,820 | |
| 4-1 | $179,688 | |
| 4-2 | $183,642 | |
| 4-3 | $187,682 | |
| 4-4 | $191,811 |
Every salary links to its take-home figure. Where a salary is not a round $5,000 the link goes to the nearest amount the calculator publishes.
Principals — Range 2 to Range 6
A principal position's salary range is set by the school's Student Resource Package budget: Range 2 at the bottom, Range 6 for schools with a budget above $15,526,127 (2025 threshold).
| Range and subdivision | Annual salary | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2-1 | $156,335 | |
| 2-2 | $159,773 | |
| 2-3 | $163,289 | |
| 2-4 | $169,664 | |
| 3-1 | $173,396 | |
| 3-2 | $177,211 | |
| 3-3 | $181,109 | |
| 3-4 | $184,611 | |
| 4-1 | $188,672 | |
| 4-2 | $192,824 | |
| 4-3 | $197,066 | |
| 4-4 | $201,401 | |
| 5-1 | $207,782 | |
| 5-2 | $211,937 | |
| 5-3 | $216,176 | |
| 5-4 | $220,499 | |
| 6-1 | $224,910 | |
| 6-2 | $229,408 | |
| 6-3 | $233,996 | |
| 6-4 | $238,676 | Top of the principal class |
Every salary links to its take-home figure. Where a salary is not a round $5,000 the link goes to the nearest amount the calculator publishes.
Which step am I on?
This is the part most teachers get wrong on their own payslip. Progression in Victoria is not simply one step per calendar year — the rules below are what Victorian Department of Education actually applies.
Progression happens once a year, on 1 May
Within every teaching service classification, salary progression is available on 1 May each year, up to the maximum subdivision of your salary range. The progression cycle runs 1 May to 30 April, and a performance review is done at the end of each school year.
It is not automatic. Progression is based on the annual assessment of your performance under the performance and development process. The VGSA 2022 does, however, forbid the employer from imposing a quota on how many staff can progress in a year — the decision rests solely on each person's own assessment.
You need six months of eligible service
An employee with six or more months of eligible service at or above a subdivision in a progression cycle is eligible to move up. Eligible service includes duty (including time on higher duties), paid leave, and unpaid leave that has been approved to count as service.
If you were promoted in the six months before 1 May you are not eligible to progress that year — unless you had been on higher duties at or above the promotion level earlier in the same cycle, which does count.
Range 1 to Range 2 is not a time-served step
VGSA 2022 clause 16(3): advancement from classroom teacher salary range 1 to classroom teacher salary range 2 is subject to the teacher satisfying the requirements of salary range 2. Reaching 1-5 does not roll you into 2-1 on the calendar.
Range 2 classroom teachers are expected to play a significant role in improving student performance across the school and to build other staff's knowledge of high quality instruction — that is what the requirements test.
Leading teacher and learning specialist are appointments
Range 3 is not the next rung of the classroom teacher scale. Leading teacher and learning specialist are positions the principal creates and fills for a fixed term, and both are paid on the same Range 3 rates.
When a leading teacher or learning specialist appointment expires without renewal, transfer or promotion, the employee becomes a classroom teacher at subdivision 2-6.
If you are told you will not progress
A teacher assessed as not meeting the requirements does not progress that year — but only if they were told in writing before 1 March what standard was expected, where their performance fell short, what the consequences are, and were given the chance to improve.
Progression for everyone else is processed centrally on the payroll.
Accelerated progression exists but is rare
Where a principal considers a teacher is performing well above normal expectations, or where retention is a concern, they can approve accelerated progression within a salary range. It takes effect from 1 May of that cycle and can only come out of the performance and development process.
It is confined to the school that granted it: change schools and your salary reverts to what it would have been without the acceleration, unless the new principal determines otherwise.
Checking your payslip: find the classification code on your payslip, match it to the first column of the tables above, and compare the annual figure. If your gross fortnightly pay does not divide back to the annual salary for your step, you are either on the wrong step or being paid pro rata on a time fraction. The VIC pay calculator will convert an annual salary to fortnightly for you.
What a VIC teacher salary is worth after tax
Gross salary is not what lands in your account. A graduate on $79,589 and a top-of-scale teacher on $118,063 both pay income tax and the Medicare levy, and most also have a compulsory HECS-HELP repayment deducted at these income levels. Every salary in the tables above links to its take-home figure — start with take-home pay on $80,000 or take-home pay on $120,000.
Superannuation sits on top of these salaries rather than inside them. Check the exact figure for your own step with the take-home pay calculator, and if you have a study debt the HECS repayment calculator shows what comes out at your income.
Salary packaging available to VIC teachers
Public school teachers can salary sacrifice into superannuation, which reduces taxable income at your marginal rate. Because the classroom teacher scale runs through the 30% and 37% brackets, the saving is meaningful at the top of the scale and smaller at the graduate step. Work out your own number with the salary sacrifice calculator.
Salary sacrificing also lowers the income your compulsory HECS-HELP repayment is assessed on only in limited cases — reportable fringe benefits and reportable super contributions are added back for that test. If you are packaging, check the effect on repayment income before assuming a saving.
What this page does not show
We publish only what we could read from a primary source. These are deliberately left off rather than estimated:
- The rates under the in-principle 2026 agreement — announced but not published as a salary schedule, and not tabled here.
- Casual relief teacher (CRT) rates — published on a separate departmental schedule not read for this page.
- Paraprofessional and education support class scales, which are separate classifications.
- Liaison principal rates, which mirror the principal ranges but are a distinct classification.
For anything in that list, go to Victorian Department of Education.
VIC teacher salary questions
Teacher salaries in other states
How this page is sourced▼
Every salary on this page was read from the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022 (VGSA 2022) or from Victorian Department of Education’s own published salary schedule on 28 August 2026, and applies from the first pay period on or after 1 July 2025. Nothing is estimated, averaged or interpolated: a step we could not read from a primary source is listed under “What this page does not show” rather than filled in.
State scales step up on dates written into the agreement, so re-check after the next scheduled increase. Take-home figures come from the site’s own calculator using ATO rates; because those pages exist in $5,000 steps, a salary that is not a round $5,000 links to the nearest one and says so.
Sources & References
- 1Salary Rates: Overview (teacher and principal class salary schedules)— Victorian Department of Education
- 2Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022— Victorian Department of Education
- 3Remuneration — Teaching Service: Annual progression— Victorian Department of Education
- 4Career Structure — Teaching Service: Policy and Guidelines— Victorian Department of Education
- 5Labor Is Giving Education Workers A Payrise (17 August 2026)— Premier of Victoria
Last verified: 28 August 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.
Penny Ward
Verified AuthorEmployment & Workplace Rights Editor
B.Com (Hons), Cert IV Financial Planning
Penny is a financial journalist and workplace compliance specialist with over a decade of experience writing about Australian employment law, Fair Work entitlements, and payroll. She has contributed to publications covering industrial relations and personal finance, and previously advised small businesses on award interpretation and pay compliance.
Areas of Expertise