These are the rates the WA Department of Education publishes as "Teacher salaries by level as of December 2025". They come from the third and final increase under the 2023 general agreement, which delivered 5% from 6 December 2023, 4% from 6 December 2024 and 3% from 6 December 2025.
The WA Industrial Relations Commission's document server was unreachable on 28 August 2026, so the general agreement itself could not be read. Deputy principal and principal salaries live in that document and are therefore not shown here — we would rather leave a gap than estimate a principal's salary.
Western Australia teacher pay scale 2026 — every step
Western Australia writes the teacher scale as Level 2.1 to Level 2.9, with an annual increment each year. Senior teachers and Level 3 classroom teachers are paid on a separate scale above it.
Full-time annual salaries before tax and before superannuation. Part-time teachers are paid these rates pro rata on their time fraction.
Teachers — Level 2.1 to 2.9
The incremental scale every qualified WA public school teacher is paid on. The department's own wording: provided you teach to a satisfactory standard, you receive an annual increment each year until you reach level 2.9.
| Level | Annual salary | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2.1 | $88,178 | Qualified teacher starting salary |
| Level 2.2 | $95,627 | |
| Level 2.3 | $103,568 | |
| Level 2.4 | $107,175 | |
| Level 2.5 | $110,925 | |
| Level 2.6 | $114,820 | |
| Level 2.7 | $118,868 | |
| Level 2.8 | $123,141 | |
| Level 2.9 | $127,737 | Top of the incremental 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.
WA teacher salary 2026 at a glance
Full-time annual salaries from 6 December 2025, read from the School Education Act Employees' (Teachers and Administrators) General Agreement 2023. Tap a classification for every step, or a salary to see it after tax.
| Classification | Steps | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachers — Level 2.1 to 2.9 | 9 | $88,178 | $127,737 |
| Senior teachers and Level 3 classroom teachers | 5 | $132,557 | $147,077 |
WA leadership, specialist and other pay scales
Senior teachers and Level 3 classroom teachers
The two classifications above the incremental scale that keep you in the classroom. Level 3 Classroom Teacher is WA's distinctive senior classroom role.
| Classification | Annual salary | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Teacher 1 | $132,557 | |
| Senior Teacher 2 | $134,165 | |
| Level 3 Classroom Teacher 3.1 | $137,567 | |
| Level 3 Classroom Teacher 3.2 | $141,551 | |
| Level 3 Classroom Teacher 3.3 | $147,077 | Top of the classroom teacher structure |
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 agreement sets WA teacher pay
Western Australia public school teacher salaries are set by the School Education Act Employees' (Teachers and Administrators) General Agreement 2023, the instrument the WA Department of Education pays against. The rates below took effect from 6 December 2025 and were read from that instrument on 28 August 2026.
These are the government (public) school scales. Catholic systemic and independent schools in Western Australia negotiate their own agreements and are not covered here.
Which step am I on?
This is the part most teachers get wrong on their own payslip. Progression in Western Australia is not simply one step per calendar year — the rules below are what the WA Department of Education actually applies.
An annual increment to 2.9, subject to satisfactory teaching
The department states it plainly: provided you teach to a satisfactory standard, you receive an annual increment each year until you reach level 2.9. That is nine levels from 2.1 to the top of the incremental scale.
The single largest jumps are early — 2.1 to 2.2 is $7,449 and 2.2 to 2.3 is $7,941, both well above the roughly $4,000 steps that follow.
Your starting level is not always 2.1
The department says it takes your work experience and qualifications into account when determining your starting salary, and it publishes a separate process for applying for a higher salary based on prior teaching experience or as a five-year trained teacher.
If you came into WA teaching with prior experience and were placed at 2.1 anyway, that is the process to check.
Above 2.9: Senior Teacher and Level 3 Classroom Teacher
Neither is an increment. Senior Teacher has two points, at $132,557 and $134,165, and Level 3 Classroom Teacher has three, from $137,567 to $147,077.
Level 3 Classroom Teacher is the one worth knowing about: it is WA's way of paying a teacher near deputy-principal money for staying in the classroom rather than moving into administration.
Senior Teacher and Level 3 are applications, not appointments you wait for
The department is explicit that both are competitive: current teachers who meet the eligibility criteria can apply to become a senior teacher, and outstanding teachers can apply to become a level 3 classroom teacher, which the department describes as recognising outstanding teaching practice.
Leadership is a separate route again — the department runs a Leadership Institute with programs intended to prepare teachers before they apply for deputy principal or principal roles.
Regional and remote loadings sit on top
Teachers in rural, regional and remote WA locations may receive extra benefits on top of these salaries, and the amounts vary by school. The department publishes an allowances and benefits calculator that resolves it school by school — they are not part of the scale above.
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 WA pay calculator will convert an annual salary to fortnightly for you.
What a WA teacher salary is worth after tax
Gross salary is not what lands in your account. A graduate on $88,178 and a top-of-scale teacher on $127,737 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 $90,000 or take-home pay on $130,000.
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.
To check the PAYG amount on a single payslip, look up your gross pay in the ATO fortnightly tax table or, if your school pays monthly, the monthly tax table.
Salary packaging available to WA 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:
- School administrator salaries — deputy principals and principals. These are in the School Education Act Employees' (Teachers and Administrators) General Agreement rather than on the department's salary page, and the WA Industrial Relations Commission's document server did not respond when we tried to read it. We would rather show nothing than a guessed principal salary.
- The next scheduled increase. The 2023 agreement's three increases are exhausted as at December 2025, and we could not verify any successor agreement or further increase date. The department and the WAIRC register both still list the 2023 agreement as current.
- The agreement's nominal expiry date, which is in the same unreachable document.
- Level 1 teacher rates below level 2.1 — the department's published table starts at 2.1.
- Relief and casual teacher rates, which the department publishes separately.
- Regional, remote and attraction-and-retention incentives, which vary by school and are not a salary rate.
- School psychologist salaries, which WA publishes on a separate scale.
For anything in that list, go to the WA Department of Education.
WA teacher salary questions
Teacher salaries in other states
How this page is sourced▼
Every salary on this page was read from the School Education Act Employees' (Teachers and Administrators) General Agreement 2023 or from the WA Department of Education’s own published salary schedule on 28 August 2026, and applies from 6 December 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
- 1Teacher salaries (Teacher salaries by level as of December 2025)— WA Department of Education
- 2Awards and agreements — School Education Act Employees' (Teachers and Administrators) General Agreement 2023— WA Department of Education
- 3Recognition of teaching experience and qualifications— WA Department of Education
- 4Career progression — senior teachers and level 3 classroom teachers— WA Department of Education
- 5Teachers receive pay rise as part of big investment into education (5 July 2024) — 5%/4%/3% from 6 December 2023, 2024 and 2025— Government of Western Australia
- 6School Education Act Employees' (Teachers and Administrators) General Agreement 2023 (AG 24/2024) — register entry— Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission
Last verified: 28 August 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.
Anita Bell
AuthorFounder & Senior Bookkeeper
Accountancy degree (2015); certified in Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, Saasu, Zoho and Reckon One
Anita Bell earned her accountancy degree in 2015 and has worked as a senior bookkeeper with Prime Bookkeeping for over 5 years. This built her skills in Australian and New Zealand tax legislation and industry regulations. She is certified in Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, Saasu, Zoho and Reckon One, and works with payroll and rostering software including Gusto, Deputy, Tsheets and KeyPay. She has strong experience in hospitality, building and construction, financial services, real estate, ecommerce, and medical and health services.
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