Salary determination
Direction and guidance on the principles, methods and processes for determining the commencing salary for classroom teachers within the Standards Based Remuneration structure.
Audience
All permanent, temporary and casual classroom teachers.
| Version | Date | Description of changes | Approved by |
|---|---|---|---|
V01.0.0 |
06/09/2024 |
Under the 2023 Policy and procedure review program, new policy document consolidating existing instructions and improving clarity and readability. Includes requirements for teacher’s to be qualified and accredited to teach to seek recognition of prior service and provision for recognition of service for Early Childhood Educators. |
Chief People Officer |
About the policy
Under the Employee benefits and entitlement policy, the department is committed to providing attractive benefits and entitlements for all employees by remunerating employees according to the current awards and determinations.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Classroom teachers |
Teachers accredited and employed to teach school curriculum under the Education Act 1990 in NSW public schools or an educational program under the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law (NSW) in NSW public preschools |
Default level salary |
Salary level determined by the department under the Standards Based Remuneration Steps when a teacher gains Approval to Teach or starts a Permanent Appointment, based on the teacher’s level of accreditation and prior relevant teaching experience with the department |
Education paraprofessional |
A person employed under the Teaching Service Act 1980 to work under the guidance of a teacher in the classroom |
FTE |
Full time equivalent |
In-service leave |
Approved paid and unpaid leave taken while employed with the department, including parental and military leave |
International appointments |
Teachers who are or have been qualified and employed to teach overseas, and have received accreditation from NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) to teach in NSW |
Interstate appointments |
Teachers registered to teach in other Australian states and territories who have received accreditation from NESA to teach in NSW |
Intrastate appointments |
Teachers with current NESA accreditation from other systems in NSW |
Pre-service caring for a child |
Unpaid period of care for a dependent child under school age and which precedes employment/re-employment as a teacher |
Qualified |
Attained a qualification meeting the requisite NSW teaching standards |
Standards Based Remuneration Steps |
The classification structure that determines teacher remuneration, as outlined in the Award |
Supporting documentation |
Official evidence given by prior employers and/or registration authorities and provided as part of an application |
The Award |
Crown Employees (Teachers in Schools and Related Employees) Salaries and Conditions Award |
NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA):
- assesses classroom teacher’s level of professional accreditation.
Department of Education:
- assigns teachers a salary outcome based on the Award, NESA accreditation, relevant teaching experience, previous career experience, salary matching eligibility, in-service leave, pre-service caring for a child and concurrent employment.
Classroom teachers:
- may apply for a salary determination at one of 3 prescribed salary determination points.
Shared Services Human Resources:
- must comply with these procedures when establishing commencing salary and eligibility for the submission of salary determination applications.
School Workforce and Human Resources:
- must comply with these procedures when determining salary levels, responding to enquiries for salary determination and when assessing and processing salary determination requests for teachers.
School Workforce managers and Shared Services HR senior managers:
- are responsible for monitoring, evaluating and reporting requirements.
What needs to be done
These procedures outline the process for permanent, temporary and casual classroom teachers to:
- evaluate their eligibility to apply for salary determination
- request a determination of their salary.
They do not apply to:
- school counsellors
- educational paraprofessionals
- executives
- principals
- non-school-based teaching service staff.
Salary determinations:
- attract quality teachers to, and retain them within the department
- reward teachers when they achieve higher levels of professional accreditation and service
- ensure casual and temporary teachers in NSW public schools have all their qualified accredited teaching service recognised when appointed to permanent teaching positions
- recognise and commensurately remunerate qualified teachers with relevant teaching experience from another teaching system (intrastate, interstate or from overseas)
- recognise the prior employment and career experience of newly qualified teachers and career changers for salary determination purposes.
1. Understand the conditions for salary determination
1.1 Assigned salary outcomes
Teachers are assigned a salary outcome based on their level of professional accreditation, as determined by NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) under the Teacher Accreditation Act 2004 and consistent with the Crown Employees (Teachers in Schools and Related Employees) Salaries and Conditions Award:
- Conditional or Provisional accreditation – Step 1
- Proficient accreditation – Step 3
- Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher – HALT
Overseas teachers are only eligible for Conditional or Provisional initial accreditation.
Teachers given Provisional accreditation status may be entitled to attain Proficient (Pending) status with the department for salary purposes.
Teachers who attain Conditional accreditation, or have failed to attain Proficient accreditation following approval for Proficient (Pending) status, will not be eligible to gain Proficient (Pending) status again.
Teachers are eligible for Proficient (Pending) status if either:
- they have previously attained Proficient accreditation with NESA or hold Full/Proficient registration with a relevant interstate teacher registration authority that is eligible for mutual recognition by NESA
- they worked as a teacher in NSW (before October 2004), in another state (qualifying for Mutual Recognition) or internationally, and have at least 2 years or 406 days of casual, temporary and/or permanent teaching service.
If teachers achieve Proficient (Pending) status they are paid at between Step 3 and Step 7, with their salary determined by relevant teaching experience. Proficient (Pending) status applies for a maximum of 203 days of service or one year of full-time work. During this service period, teachers are required to attain Proficient accreditation with NESA.
If teachers attain Proficient, Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher accreditation, they will be paid at the relevant salary step following attainment of their new accreditation level. If they have not attained Proficient accreditation, they will revert to Step 2 for salary purposes until Proficient accreditation is achieved.
1.2 When to apply – prescribed salary determination points
There are 3 salary determination points for teachers to submit a classroom teacher salary determination application (Table 1).
Table 1 Salary determination points
| Salary determination point | Effective date of salary adjustment |
|---|---|
On commencing employment with the department |
If a teacher applies within 6 months of getting initial approval to teach, their salary is adjusted from the date of approval to teach. Otherwise, their salary is adjusted starting from the first pay period after the application is received. |
At the offer of appointment for permanent employment |
If a teacher applies within 6 months of starting their permanent employment, their salary is adjusted from when they commenced the job. Otherwise, their salary is adjusted starting from the first pay period after the application is received. |
When a working temporary or casual teacher has relevant experience equal to full terms (each being 50 days), which have been completed since initial approval to teach was granted or their last engagement with the department (whichever is more recent) |
The salary will be adjusted from the first pay period after the application is received. |
1.3 Considerations for salary determination
Relevant teaching experience (Table 2) includes cumulative experience across interstate, intrastate and international settings.
Table 2 Relevant teaching experience definitions
| Teacher segment | Definition of relevant teaching experience |
|---|---|
Intrastate appointments |
All cumulative casual, temporary and permanent employment while delivering* courses of study that are designed to implement:
|
Interstate appointments |
All cumulative casual, temporary and permanent qualified teacher employment while delivering* courses:
|
International appointments |
All cumulative casual, temporary and permanent qualified (refer to Definitions above) teaching employment in a recognised:
|
*‘Delivering’ may be met by assessing students, or by supporting and leading the development, implementation and assessment in those courses by qualified accredited teachers.
**Total years of service within an early childhood education setting will be considered including service as an early childhood education centre Director or Educational Leader.
The department will only consider periods of teaching experience in complete years (assessed as 203 days or one year full-time equivalent teaching experience) for international service. Interstate and Intrastate service will be considered in periods of whole terms (assessed as 50 days or one term full time).
Teachers who are changing careers and joining NSW public schools for the first time are eligible to seek recognition of prior employment and career experience within Australia. This is possible once:
- they complete a relevant teacher education qualification
- are accredited to teach with NESA as a teacher in NSW
- are granted approval to teach in NSW public schools.
Teachers are eligible to have 203 days (one year) of teaching service credited for each 2 year full-time equivalent period of prior employment, up to a cap of 1,218 days (6 years) of teaching service recognition.
An application for a salary determination will consider the role previously held and consider such prior employment experience to grant a higher salary level beyond Step 1.
Career changers who have their prior employment and career experience recognised may be granted Proficient (Pending) status for up to 2 years and be able to access salary levels beyond Step 2. If the teacher fails to attain Proficient accreditation in those 2 years, their salary will revert to Step 2 from the first pay period at the end of the 2 years.
Salary matching informs the salary step at which teachers are paid. Salary matching applies to both intrastate and interstate teachers.
The department will, where possible, match the salary paid by former employing authorities for full accredited (Proficient) school teaching service within the last 5 years. Salary matching will be at the base annual salary paid by that employing authority, excluding any allowances or loading paid (for example, loadings in respect of leave or other incidents of employment paid to casual employees).
Salaries for part-time employment will be matched for the full-time equivalent salary rate, not the salary actually paid.
Casual service and employment as a tutor are not eligible for salary matching.
If the salary paid by the former employing authority does not match a step on the department’s steps, teachers are eligible for appointment at the department’s next higher step.
Teachers must be accredited by NESA at the Highly Accomplished or Lead level to be eligible for appointment at the HALT level.
For salary determination applications, teachers must provide either:
- a statement or salary slip indicating the position held, a date and the base salary (in clear numbers)
- a letter from the employer stating their salary
Evidence needs to clearly state the teacher’s base pay as a number, not including extra payments. The department cannot process requests that require more information than what is already given to understand the base salary from the previous employer.
Teachers have access to various forms of paid and unpaid leave while employed with the department (for example, in-service leave).
The department recognises service toward incremental progression for all paid in-service leave (including parental and military leave).
In addition, approved unpaid parental leave for department teachers is recognised as service for incremental progression.
If entry or re-entry into the teaching profession is delayed because of caring for a dependent child under school age, teachers may receive credit for salary progression purposes.
The following conditions must be met for teachers to be considered eligible:
- the care period falls between completing a teacher qualification and commencing employment with the department, or a period following previous employment as a teacher with the department. The teacher must not have engaged in any paid employment during the care period, however, casual work with the department is excepted if it amounts to less than 50 days (one full term) in any single year
- the teacher has not been on any form of paid leave from an employer during the care period or unpaid leave that has already been recognised for salary determination purposes.
The following rules apply to teachers eligible for other pre-service recognition:
- 203 days of teaching service are credited for every 2 years full time equivalent (FTE) of care
- The 2 years FTE needed for minimum benefit do not have to be successive
- A cap of 1,218 days of teaching service recognition (equivalent to 12 years FTE of care, 6 years of teaching service)
- any period less than a full year will not be considered
- the teacher may be granted Proficient (Pending) status for up to 2 years and be able to access salary levels beyond Step 2 (if the teacher fails to attain Proficient teacher accreditation in those 2 years, their salary will revert to Step 2 from the first pay period at the end of the 2 years).
In-service recognition for external experience applies when teachers are joining or re-joining the department. It also applies for in-service temporary or casual teachers.
Residual full-time teaching experience less than one year (203 days) will be considered for salary progression on a FTE basis in full terms (50 day blocks).
Part-time teaching experience completed concurrently with department service will also be considered for salary progression on a FTE basis, but only in multiples of 50 days. Any residual periods less than 50 days will not be considered in any future salary determination applications.
2. Prepare and submit an application
Teachers must:
- complete the Salary determination for classroom teachers application form (PDF 197 KB) at one of the 3 salary determination points (section 1.2)
- email the form, along with supporting documentation to salarydetermination@det.nsw.edu.au.
Supporting documents must include:
- confirmation of position/s held
- dates on which the work commenced and ended
- confirmation of FTE (full time equivalent), and/or the number of school days worked per week
- unpaid leave details or confirmation that none was taken.
If any of the above is missing, the statement will not be accepted and the salary determination will instead be processed based on the quantity of verified experience.
3. Review the application
Applications for salary determination are reviewed by:
- the Salary Determination team for commencing teachers
- Shared Services Human Resources for in-service teachers.
The determinations consider:
- relevant teaching experience
- prior employment and career experience for teachers who are career-changers joining NSW public schools for the first time
- salary matching (where applicable)
- in-service leave
- pre-service caring for a child.
In the absence of a salary determination application, or in the case of an incomplete application, teacher salary will remain at the default level determined by the department.
Mandatory tools and templates
Supporting tools, resources and related information
The Director, Attraction and Engagement Programs monitors the implementation of this procedure, regularly reviews its contents to ensure relevance and accuracy, and updates it as needed.