WA teachers and TAFE lecturers: your agreements and pay, clause by clause.

SCH013 replaced the 2021 schools agreement (cl 2.1), which the registration order cancelled under s 41(8) of the IR Act (Director General, Department of Education v The State School Teachers' Union of W.A. [2024] WAIRC 00949). "The conditions prescribed in this Agreement, to the extent of any inconsistency, prevail over the terms prescribed in the Award. Otherwise, the terms of the Award will be read in conjunction with this Agreement" (cl 2.2). The IR Act sets the same general rule (s 41(9)).

Some SCH013 clauses say expressly which award clauses they replace:

Other conditions come only from the award. They include face to face teaching hours and DOTT time (award cl 13–14), student vacations and annual leave (award cl 42), long service leave (award cl 38), parental leave (award cl 39), notice of termination (award cl 11) and union representatives' facilities (award cl 62).

The award's own pay rates are far below SCH013's. Award Level 1.1 is $54,644 a year (award Sch B, Table I), against $70,096 for SCH013's lowest rate, untrained teacher 1.1, from 6 December 2025 (SCH013 Sch A, Table 1). Pay is quoted from the agreement on this page for that reason.

WES337 replaced the 2021 TAFE lecturers' agreement (cl 8.1). It "shall be read in conjunction with" the TAFE award and the Community Colleges Award (cl 8.2), and prevails to the extent of any inconsistency (cl 8.3).

WES337 is far more self-contained than SCH013. It has its own hours, leave, allowance, termination, discipline and dispute clauses. Its personal leave clause replaces the award's sick and short leave (cl 51.1).

Both TAFE-side awards are old. The TAFE award still describes its scope as employees of the former Department of Employment, Vocational Education and Training under the Education Act 1928 (TAFE award cl 4). COM003 names the Hedland, Kalgoorlie, Karratha and Pundulmurra college councils (COM003 Sch C). Their practical reach today rests on WES337 naming them.

The award rates are again far below the agreement. The TAFE award pays lecturers and counsellors Grade 1 $64,516 to Grade 10 $82,982 a year, and principal lecturers $94,801, from the first pay period on or after 1 July 2026 (TAFE award cl 8). WES337 pays a Grade 1 lecturer $96,229 from 15 December 2025 (Sch G).

SCH013 does not set its own district allowance rates. It says every school employee, except those keeping the old locality allowance, "will be entitled to District Allowance on the same basis as prescribed in District Allowance (Government Officers) General Agreement 2010 or its replacement" (cl 24.3). Whether that includes casual staff is discussed below.

That is DIS013, registered by the Public Service Arbitrator in 2010 (The Civil Service Association of Western Australia Incorporated [2010] WAIRC 00867; DIS013). The SSTUWA is not a party to it. Its union parties are the Civil Service Association, the Health Services Union, the WA Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union, The Association of Professional Engineers, Australia (Western Australia Branch) and the WA Police Union (DIS013 Sch B). Teachers get its terms only because SCH013 adopts them. The WAIRC's agreement register listed DIS013 as "In Force" on 3 November 2026.

How DIS013 works:

(a) District allowance is paid for the region in which your headquarters is located, at the higher rate for listed towns (DIS013 cl 9.1.1).

(b) It is doubled if you have a dependant (cl 9.1.2), and topped up if you have a partial dependant (cl 9.1.3).

(c) It is reduced to two-thirds when the employer or a public authority provides free board and lodging (cl 9.1.9).

(d) Part-time officers get a proportion, and casual officers an hourly amount, under set formulas (cl 9.2–9.3). Whether casual school staff are paid it at all depends on SCH013, discussed below.

(e) From 1 July 2011 the eligible regions are the Kimberley, Pilbara, Goldfields-Esperance, Gascoyne and Mid West, and the parts of the Wheatbelt and Great Southern outside an exclusion zone (cl 12.1).

(f) Rates are recalculated from cost of living, climate and isolation components, with the climate and isolation components adjusted each 1 July by Perth CPI (cl 13.1).

DIS013 prints rates only for 2008 to 2010 (its Schedules C to E). Those figures are long out of date, so this page does not quote them.

Casual school staff are probably not entitled to district allowance under SCH013, although no decision has dealt with it. Against payment: the casual hourly rate is "inclusive of 20% loading paid in lieu of leave ... and allowances" (cl 7), and the WAIRC held that the words "and allowances" in the 2014 agreement's casual definition meant "'allowances' under the agreement are not payable to casual employees" (The State School Teachers' Union of W.A. (Incorporated) v The Director General, Department of Education [2018] WAIRC 00731 at [21]). The award's casual clause excludes allowances in the same way (award cl 10(1)(a)), and the locality allowance that district allowance replaced was accepted as not payable to casuals (SSTUWA v Director General [2018] WAIRC 00731 at [9]). For payment: cl 24.3 gives district allowance to "All Employees", "Employee" includes casuals (cl 7), and DIS013 has an hourly formula for casual officers (DIS013 cl 9.3). The TAFE agreement, by contrast, expressly gives casual lecturers district allowance (WES337 cl 20.1).

SCH013 Schedule A states: "Employees will receive the following salary increases: 5% effective on and from 6 December 2023; 4% effective on and from 6 December 2024; and 3% effective on and from 6 December 2025" (Sch A). Compounded, that is about 12.5% over the agreement. No further increase is scheduled.

The tables below are annual salaries from Schedule A. The column headed "From 6 December 2025" is the current rate.

Untrained teachers (Table 1):

Source: SCH013 Sch A, Table 1. Under the schools award, "An Untrained Teacher can not proceed beyond Level 1, point 8" (award cl 22(2)).

Teachers (Table 4):

Source: SCH013 Sch A, Table 4.

Full-time graduate teachers also receive a Graduate Teacher Allowance of $2,000 a year in their first two years, pro rata for part-time (cl 13.1(a)).

Source: SCH013 Sch A, Tables 7 and 10.

(a) Senior Teacher 2 is new in SCH013; the schedule shows "NA" for it before 6 December 2023 (Table 7). A teacher who meets the eligibility criteria and one of the evidence pathways progresses to Senior Teacher 1 from the first pay period after notifying the Department; Senior Teacher 2 requires 12 months at Senior Teacher 1 and agreement to perform two additional duties (cl 14.2, 14.4–14.8).

(b) The Level 3.3 rates are marked "*Level 3.3 rates for use in the Level 3.3 Classroom Teacher trial" (Sch A). No clause of SCH013 sets out the trial itself.

Principals, deputy principals and other administrators (Table 16):

Source: SCH013 Sch A, Table 16.

(a) Level 3 principals have their own Table 13. They now start at 3.3 and progress to 3.6, which is paid the same as 4.2 ($163,356 from 6 December 2025) (cl 17.1(a); Table 13). Steps 3.5 and 3.6 are paid $159,316 and $163,356 from 6 December 2025.

(b) On registration, principals of Western Australian Colleges of Agriculture were reclassified to Level 6 and principals of district high schools to Level 5. A district high school principal who must enrol Year 11 or 12 students is paid at Level 6 for that school year (cl 17.1(b)–(c)).

(c) Step 5.1A is used in cl 17.2(c): a deputy principal with service at 5.1A who wins a Level 5 position starts at 5.2 (cl 17.2(c)). The asterisk beside 5.1A in the table has no footnote.

(d) SCH013 does not list which schools or roles sit at each administrator level. The schools award's Schedule B describes which principal and deputy positions sit at each award level, by school type and enrolment (award Sch B).

School psychologists (Table 20):

Education officers (Table 19):

Source: SCH013 Sch A, Tables 19 and 20. Casual school psychologists have hourly rates for the first time, from $55.97 (1.1) to $97.30 (Lead School Psychologist) from 6 December 2025 (Table 21).

A casual is engaged for at least three hours and for no more than four weeks in any engagement at one school, centre or site. "The hourly rate is inclusive of 20% loading paid in lieu of leave, other than leave that is expressly stated as applying to a Casual Employee, and allowances" (cl 7).

Casual hourly rates for teachers (Table 6), including the 20% loading:

Source: SCH013 Sch A, Table 6. Other casual rates from 6 December 2025:

(a) untrained teachers $41.87 (1.1) to $61.87 (1.8) (Table 3);

(b) Senior Teacher 1 $79.18 and Senior Teacher 2 $80.14 (Table 9);

(c) Level 3 classroom teachers $82.17 (3.1), $84.55 (3.2) and $87.86 (3.3) (Table 12);

(d) Canning College casual lecturers $108.51 (Table 24); specially organised class instructors $58.59 and pianist-accompanists $42.32 (Table 23);

(e) swimming staff from $40.84 (Level 1 instructor, vacation swimming) to $56.70 (centre supervisor with 11 or more staff, and regional advisor), and from $37.44 to $51.97 for in-term swimming (Table 22).

Casual rates are calculated by the formula in award cl 23(5) (cl 23.4).

A teacher may agree to teach more than the weekly face to face maximum to cover a class ("internal relief") (cl 10.1). DOTT time then falls by the same amount (cl 11.1), and the teacher is paid the internal relief rate for the extra hours, as "an additional payment to compensate for a corresponding decrease in the weekly allocation of DOTT time" (cl 26.1–26.2).

Internal relief rates from 6 December 2025 run from $61.87 an hour (teachers at 2.1 to 2.3) to $76.30 (2.9) (Table 5), and for principals and deputies from $84.55 (3.1) to $123.45 (6.4) (Table 17). Principals and deputies are paid only when they must teach face to face, are authorised, and are not normally timetabled for that class (cl 26.5–26.8).

Principals should consider a graduate teacher's workload before asking them to do internal relief, and it "should be by agreement with the Graduate Teacher" (cl 26.4). In the Remote Teaching Service a teacher can be required to do internal relief of up to 50% of their DOTT entitlement each term without extra pay, and is paid for relief beyond that (cl 47.1).

(a) Deferred salary. With the employer's written agreement, you can take 80% of base salary for four years and then 12 months' leave, paid at 80% of the fourth year's base salary or the amount forgone over the four years, whichever is greater (cl 27.1, 27.3).

(b) Superannuation on unpaid parental leave. Contributions are made for up to 24 weeks of unpaid parental leave, paid into your fund when the leave ends (cl 28.2, 28.4).

(a) The school day. The principal sets the start and finish times; "the minimum daily attendance requirement for a full-time Employee is five hours and thirty-five minutes unless otherwise agreed by the Principal" (cl 7, "Normal School Day"). SCH013 sets no weekly hours.

(b) Face to face teaching. The maximum is 21 hours 20 minutes a week for secondary, pre-primary and kindergarten teachers (award cl 13(2)), and for primary teachers since the start of the 2021 school year (award cl 13(3)). Contact and form classes count as face to face time (award cl 13(4)).

(c) DOTT time. Exclusive of recess and lunch, it is 320 minutes a week for secondary, pre-primary and kindergarten teachers (award cl 14(1)) and 270 minutes a week for primary teachers since the start of the 2021 school year (award cl 14(2)). Multi-age classes are pro-rated by a formula (award cl 14(4)).

(d) How DOTT is used. "Principals will ensure that the priority use of DOTT time is for Teachers to focus on teaching, learning and assessment" (cl 11.2). The listed uses include preparing materials, planning, report writing and supervising students at carnivals and excursions (cl 11.2(a)–(g)). Collaborative DOTT is supported only where it is "Teacher led and directed" (cl 11.3), and DOTT "should not be regularly timetabled to conflict with regularly scheduled school activities such as assemblies" (cl 11.4).

(e) Work outside the school day: (i) whole of staff meetings outside student instruction time "totalling five hours per term", with the agenda, venue and timing set "in full and proper consultation with staff" (cl 9.3(a)–(b)); (ii) up to two formal parent meetings a year outside the normal school day (cl 9.5(a); award cl 12(5)); (iii) a part-time teacher cannot be required to attend a staff meeting or school development day on a day they do not normally work, and is paid if they agree to (cl 9.4(a)); (iv) half of one of the two school development days at the start of the year is for work at the teacher's professional discretion (cl 9.4(b)); (v) payment or time off in lieu "may be considered" for agreed work such as camps, festivals and extra parent interviews (cl 9.6); (vi) a teacher aggrieved by a requirement to work outside the normal school day may use the award dispute procedure (award cl 12(6)).

(f) Workload. "No Teacher will be required to perform an unreasonable or excessive workload during the school year" (cl 9.2(b)); the same applies to school administrators (cl 17.7). Heads of department, heads of learning area, Level 3 primary deputy principals and program coordinators get at least 0.3 FTE a week for administrative duties (cl 17.3). Graduates get an extra 0.05 FTE a week of non-contact time in their first year (cl 13.2(a)).

(g) Class sizes. "Schools are to plan not to exceed class sizes as per Table A" and, "where it can be achieved within available school resources", to attempt to reduce them towards Table B (cl 12.2). Table A sets, for example, 24 for Years 1 to 3, 32 for Years 4 to 6 and 7 to 10, and 25 for Years 11 and 12 (cl 12.2, Table A). A school may go above Table A; a teacher asked to take a larger class "can utilise the grievance procedures", and both that and extra support are "within available physical and human resources" (cl 12.4). Workload and class sizes are covered in more depth on the workload, safety and injury page for teachers.

(h) The right to disconnect. "Teachers and School Administrators are not required to initiate or respond to electronic and other communication from school staff, parents or community members when not on site", including on leave, public holidays and student vacations (cl 34.1). It does not apply in an emergency or where staffing or health issues mean failing to communicate could disadvantage employees (cl 34.2).

(a) Ordinary hours are 37.5 a week, worked between 7.30 am and 8.00 pm, Monday to Friday (cl 37.1). A lecturer may elect to work Saturday afternoon or Sunday as ordinary hours, and "may not be coerced" into it (cl 37.5).

(b) The weekly load for a full-time lecturer is: (i) up to 21 ordinary lecturing hours (cl 37.7); (ii) 12 hours of "Activities Related to Delivery" for a 21-hour lecturing week (cl 37.9), of which up to 7.5 hours may be done off campus at the lecturer's discretion (cl 37.12); (iii) Professional Activities for the balance of 37.5 hours (cl 37.13), which is 4 hours 30 minutes at a full lecturing load (Sch L).

(c) Lecturers are not required to lecture in more than 40 weeks of a calendar year, other than through averaging (cl 37.8). Lecturing hours may be averaged over up to 21 weeks a semester (20 at North Regional TAFE), to a maximum of 420 hours (cl 38.1–38.2).

(d) A loading of 50% applies to ordinary hours the college requires between 8.00 pm and 10.00 pm on weekdays, or between 7.30 am and noon on Saturdays (cl 37.6).

(e) Overtime lecturing on a Sunday is paid at double time and on Saturday afternoon at time and a half (cl 43.2); all time worked on a public holiday is paid at double time and a half (cl 43.3).

(f) A Flexible Hours Arrangement is a voluntary written arrangement, paid at Schedule H, that replaces the standard hours, averaging and overtime clauses for that lecturer (cl 40.2).

(g) The managing director "will not require lecturers to undertake an unreasonable workload" and must keep workload allocation "fair, manageable and without risk to health and safety" (cl 16.1–16.2). Workload disputes can go to a Workload Dispute Panel (cl 16.6–16.13).

(h) Class sizes are not set by WES337. They sit in a STERC policy, "Class Sizes (first agreed 2005)", which is "to be reviewed by the parties during the life of this Agreement" (cl 15.3(f)).

(i) The right to disconnect. "Employees are not required to access work related information or respond to communications such as text messages and emails outside their ordinary hours" (cl 41.2). Employers may still send communications in an emergency, for genuine health and welfare concerns, or for relief lecturing (cl 41.3).

Country Teaching Program allowances are paid fortnightly unless you agree otherwise. With approval you can instead have them paid as a December lump sum, or used to fund travel or professional development, if you elect before the school year starts (cl 44.2–44.4). Staff at Band A schools also get an air-conditioning subsidy; SCH013 does not state the amount (cl 44.7).

Remote Teaching Service staff are not paid band and special responsibility allowances (cl 25.4; cl 49.2(b)).

None of SCH013's fixed-dollar allowances in this section has an indexation clause or a scheduled increase in the text.

(a) Band and special responsibility allowances are paid while carrying out the specified duties (cl 25.1):

Source: SCH013 Sch C. You may receive only one such allowance, except that teachers in education support settings on Band 2 may receive a second (cl 25.2).

(b) Leadership pay otherwise comes through classification: Senior Teacher, Level 3 classroom teacher and the administrator levels in the tables above.

(c) Acting in a higher position is paid under the award's higher duties clause (award cl 53).

Travelling, transfer, removal, camping, motor vehicle, property and relieving allowances remain in the award (award cl 48–60). SCH013 does not restate their amounts.

District allowance rates are printed in WES337 Schedule A, but "will be adjusted administratively every 12 months, effective from the first pay period to commence on or after the first day of July in each year", by Perth CPI (cl 73.5). The printed figures are therefore not current. As printed at registration, the standard rates for an employee without dependants were $790 (District 2), $1,101 (District 3), $1,748 (District 4), $3,469 (District 5) and $4,242 (District 6), with exceptions for listed towns (Sch A).

Unless WES337 says otherwise, its allowances "will be amended and updated in accordance with variations to the corresponding allowances prescribed in the Public Service Award 1992" (cl 83).

A note on partner leave. SCH013 cl 39.1 refers to a period of "paid Partner Leave of up to one week ... as prescribed by clause 39(27)" of the award. The award says partner leave is one week (award cl 39(28)(a)), taken "(subject to available credits)" as paid sick, carer's, short, annual or long service leave, time off in lieu, or unpaid leave (award cl 39(27)(d)). It can be extended, unpaid, to a total of eight weeks (award cl 39(28)(b)–(d)). The texts do not say clearly whether cl 39.1 gives a separate paid week or a right to use existing credits.

SCH013 separates individual grievances from collective disputes.

(a) The grievance resolution procedure covers grievances about worksite matters within the employer's control (cl 55.1). It excludes sexual harassment, equal opportunity, work health and safety, the Public Sector Commissioner's Instructions and Code of Ethics, performance and disciplinary matters, and criminal behaviour (cl 55.2). The steps are: (i) try to resolve it informally first (cl 55.6(a)); (ii) lodge a written grievance within three weeks, stating the relief sought (cl 55.6(b)(i), (iii)); (iii) Level One: a worksite committee of the principal or line manager and the local union representative, within five working days (cl 55.8(a)); (iv) Level Two: a Regional Grievance Committee of a senior employee nominated by the Director General and a member nominated by the SSTUWA President, formed within ten working days (cl 55.9(e)). Resolutions at each level are binding on everyone involved in the grievance (cl 55.8(e); cl 55.10). You may bring a support person, who "can advise but not represent" you (cl 55.8(c)). Grievances with system-wide effects can go to the Employee Relations Executive Committee (cl 55.6(b)(viii)).

(b) The dispute settlement procedure covers questions about the interpretation or application of the agreement, system-wide policies, conditions of employment, equal employment opportunity and health and safety (cl 56.1–56.2). The first meeting must be within two weeks of a request, the dispute goes to the Employee Relations Executive Committee if unresolved after six weeks, and then "either party may refer the matter to the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission for conciliation and/or arbitration" (cl 56.4–56.7). The status quo remains while the procedure runs, unless otherwise agreed or impractical (cl 56.10).

(c) The schools award has its own dispute procedure: three working days with the manager, three more with the manager's superior, then referral to the employer, then to the WAIRC if unresolved within five working days (award cl 67).

(d) Consultation. The Employee Relations Executive Committee is the forum for consultation on workload, job security and fixed-term and casual use, change management, unsatisfactory performance and other matters (cl 54.3). Where the employer proposes changes likely to affect practices, conditions or employment prospects, the unions and affected employees must be told "as early as possible", given relevant information, and "able to contribute to the decision-making process" (cl 54.5). But "decisions will continue to be made by the Employer" (cl 54.9). Unresolved matters "can be referred to" the WAIRC (cl 54.10).

(e) Major change. Once the employer makes "a definite decision to introduce major changes that are likely to have a significant effect" on conditions, it must notify affected employees and the unions and discuss the changes and "measures to avert or mitigate the adverse effects" (award cl 61(1), (4)).

(f) A school Workload Advisory Committee is set up each year under Schedule H (cl 57).

(a) The dispute and grievance procedure (cl 12): (i) the lecturer and manager try to resolve it within five working days, after which the lecturer may bring in a union officer or delegate (cl 12.1(a)); (ii) written referral to the managing director and the union president, or their nominees (cl 12.1(b)); (iii) if unresolved ten working days after that referral, "the dispute may be referred to the Commission for determination" (cl 12.1(c)); (iv) union representation at every stage, and duties continue as normal meanwhile (cl 12.2, 12.4).

(b) Interpretation disputes go first to the Director General and the union president, then to the managing directors through STERC, then to the WAIRC (cl 13).

(c) Consultation. The colleges "agree to full and proper consultation with lecturers" (cl 9.1). If agreement is not reached, final responsibility rests with the managing director, and a lecturer aggrieved by a college decision can use the cl 12 procedure (cl 9.2). Each college has a joint consultative committee (cl 11.6), and the SSTUWA TAFE Employee Relations Committee (STERC) deals with system-wide issues (cl 15.2).

(d) Major change. After a "definite decision to introduce major changes that are likely to have significant effects", the employer must notify the affected employees and the union (cl 14.1) and discuss the changes and measures to avert or mitigate their effects (cl 14).

Neither agreement's procedure is a referral agreement under the Employment Dispute Resolution Act 2008 (WA) (SCH013 cl 56.11; WES337 cl 12.5).

Performance and disciplinary matters are excluded from the SCH013 grievance procedure (cl 55.2). In a substandard performance process the Director General must use "a proper, relevant, unbiased and fair process" and "not impose an unreasonable workload burden" (cl 58.6). WES337 restates the substandard performance and discipline penalties and lets an aggrieved employee refer the decision to the WAIRC, except that a disciplinary dismissal is left to the IR Act (cl 23–24). The process itself comes from Part 5 of the Public Sector Management Act 1994. Both are explained on the discipline and dismissal page for teachers.