What is the Pay Rate for SA Teachers?

This article provides the different salary rates for full-time classroom teachers in SA. For temporary relief teacher pay rates, see SA Relief Teacher Pay Rates.

SA Teachers Pay Scale

If you are a classroom teacher in South Australian public schools, you will be paid between $60,198 and $124,393 based on experience and qualifications. The exact salaries are in the table below:

Special Authority Teacher’s Salary

If you are working as a teacher but do not have Teacher’s Registration, you will be paid as a Special Authority teacher. You will not be able to move up to any other step without gaining your SA Teacher’s Registration.

There are few Special Authority teachers, but you may be paid at this tier if you are working as a teacher in the final year of your teaching degree.

See more: How to Increase Your Salary as a Teacher

Moving Up the Steps on the Pay Scale

If you have your Teacher’s Registration, you will move up one step every year until you reach step 8. To get to step 9, you will need to apply.

It is also important to note that you will not be able to move beyond step 4 unless you have full Teacher’s Registration. This means that you will need to complete the process to move from the Graduate career stage to the Proficient career stage.

See more: Do Teachers Really Get Paid for the Holidays?

If you have additional qualifications, such as an Honours or Master’s degree, you may be able to start your career on a higher step. This is not always the case and does depend on what degrees you have done.

Each of these steps is equivalent to a full year’s teaching experience, or 200 days in the classroom. If you have experience teaching overseas or in another state or sector, ask your previous schools for a statement of service. This document will state how long you have worked as a teacher and you can submit this to your school or education office to move up steps. You will also get back paid for any time you spent not getting paid at the appropriate time.

See more: Pay for Teachers Around the World: How Australia Stacks Up

AST2 (Key Teacher Fallback)

You will be paid at the AST2 (Key Teacher Fallback) step if you have been assessed as an Advanced Skills Teacher. This process has recently been replaced by Highly Accomplished and Lead teacher accreditation, so if you are not currently an Advanced Skills teacher, you will never become one.

If you have worked a cumulative 5 years in a leadership position, you will be paid at this level if you return to classroom teaching. This does not need to be 5 years in the same role or on the same contract.

See more: How to Pick a Realistic Side Hustle as a Teacher

Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers

If you have been assessed and are an accredited Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher, you can be paid at these levels. Just getting your accreditation is not enough to automatically bump up your pay.

Being a Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher means that you can apply for specific Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher positions. Getting accredited will not mean you are paid at this level as you will need to be employed as a Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher.

See more: Is it Worth Becoming a Highly Accomplished Teacher?

Yearly Pay Rises for SA Teachers

The current Enterprise Agreement outlines yearly pay increases for all teachers at all levels and steps every year. The dates that these will come into effect are in the table above.

The current Enterprise Agreement for the SA Department for Education expires on 23/3/2023, which is why there are no further increases outlined after 2022. There will be continuing pay increases every year, but these will be outlined in the new Enterprise Agreement.

How does SA compare to other states?

• WA
• NSW
• QLD
• VIC
• NT