Private school salaries for top teachers with higher duties now in excess of $160,000

Teachers at Victoria’s elite schools enjoy generous perks and are paid far more than public school teachers. See how your school compares.

Susie O'Brien and Olivia Jenkins

4 min read

July 29, 2022 - 6:14PM

Teachers at Geelong Grammar and other top schools are paid significantly more than their public school counterparts.

Education

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Teachers working in leading private schools are paid up to $20,000 more than their state school peers and enjoy a raft of additional perks and payments.

The gap between the public and private sectors stretches to up to $40,000 for teachers in positions of responsibility, the Herald Sun can reveal.

For the first time, the generosity of teachers’ and principals’ pay and conditions can be

revealed, with such information a closely guarded secret by leading private schools.

Elite school salaries for top teachers with higher duties are now in excess of $160,000 in addition to fee discounts which can be worth up to $300,000 for long-serving teachers with two children.

Private school teachers enjoy a raft of perks and payments on top of their salary. Picture: istock

In exchange, teachers are often expected to work six days a week and do more evening work than their state counterparts.

While leading private schools can pay up to $750,000 for principals and up to $350,000 for deputies, state school principals’ top salaries will reach $238,000 by 2025. Deputy principals will get a maximum of $191,000.

One of the state’s most generous employers is Carey Baptist Grammar, which pays leading teachers $135,000 in addition to leadership payments of up to $23,800.

Principal Jonathan Walter said Carey Grammar “believes our most valuable asset is our staff and that it important to recognise this through their salary and conditions.

“Our staff have done an extraordinary job over the last three years to support student wellbeing and connection whilst maintaining a high standard of education,” he said.

Methodist Ladies’ College and St Michael’s Grammar also pay senior teachers more than $130,000, with position of responsibility taking pay packets for top-performers past $150,000.

This compares to a maximum of $110,000 for senior teachers in state secondary schools with higher duties payments of up to $10,000.

Independent school teachers are also paid up to $100 a night to supervise on school camps while state school teachers will get time off in lieu for the first time for camps from 2023.

Hidden perks in the form of generous fee discounts for staff children are also paid to private school staff, with long-serving Xavier College staff employed before 1991 receiving free tuition at the elite Kew school, which charges $35,000 a year for year 12.

Senior teachers at Methodist Ladies’ College earn more than $130,000.

Those who started from 2017 get no discount at all, although the school is understood to be reviewing this.

Staff at many private schools also receive 25 weeks maximum redundancy payments and as much as 40 weeks at Overnewton College.

State school teachers get a maximum of 11 weeks redundancy.

The exclusive Herald Sun analysis of more than 100 private school enterprise agreements shows reveal a range of quirks, including extra pay loading linked to enrolment numbers at Toorak College and Lauriston and confidentiality clauses at Ruyton Girls’ School and Carey Baptist Grammar.

Carey Baptist Grammar Principal Jonathan Walter says the school’s teachers are its ‘most valuable assets’. Picture: David Crosling

But staff say private school higher salaries do not make up for additional overtime, which is often unpaid or poorly paid.

A staff member at a leading Catholic college said he was “paid like a public school teacher but with private school expectations”.

He said he was paid around $6 an hour for Saturday morning sport.

“A lot of staff end up in state schools where there is better work-life balance,” he said.

David Brear, deputy general secretary of the independent Education Union, said wages and conditions varied in independent schools.

“It’s true that some high fee-paying independent schools do pay their teaching staff well above government school rates but those schools also charge fees north of $30,000,” he said.

The maximum pay for a senior teacher at Geelong Grammar was $123,000 in 2022.

“The majority of schools pay rates close to or marginally above government rates but not all of them have the caps on workload achieved by the Australian Education Union in government schools or the IEU in Catholic schools,” he said.

Mr Brear said there are some independent schools operating without union negotiated agreements that paid less than government schools.

Head of Deakin University’s School of Education Professor Damian Blake said more needed to be done to keep existing teachers and attract new ones with flexible contracts and higher salaries in both private and public systems.

“Some independent schools have more scope to potentially pay a higher salary to attract teachers, but we’ve got to look at all possibilities to make it more attractive to a broader range of people,” he said.

Professor Blake said “all possibilities should be put on the table” by offering teachers incentives such as additional leave allowances and bonuses.

Australian Catholic University National Head of School of Education Professor Donna King said teaching staff were not swayed by additional leave entitlements, but instead prioritised finding a supportive workplace environment.

She said short-term incentives were not the answer to retaining a strong workforce.

“They want to work somewhere where they feel supported, can make a difference in the lives of their students, and that aligns with their beliefs, values and pedagogical practices,” she said.

Catholic schools except for Xavier College are covered by a common agreement which puts them on par with public school teachers. Government teachers are covered by the new Victorian Government Schools Agreement.

Other key private schools such as Trinity Grammar, Scotch College, Haileybury and Wesley College do not have accessible staff agreements and instead rely on individual contacts.