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Entry and Early Career Series

Your First Year
of CRT: A
Practical Survival Guide

Everything nobody tells you about casual relief teaching (agencies, day-one expectations, behaviour management in unfamiliar schools, and how to turn casual work into a permanent role).

Information is general in nature. Rates, conditions and compliance requirements vary by state and employer. Always verify current requirements with your state regulator and employer.

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Your First Year of CRT — A Practical Survival Guide
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About this guide

Casual Relief Teaching (CRT) is the most common first job for new teachers in Australia — and it has almost no official preparation attached to it. You graduate, get your registration sorted, and you're expected to walk into an unfamiliar school on short notice and teach. This guide is the briefing you don't get from your university. It covers how to get on the books, what to expect on day one, how to behave so you get called back, and how to use CRT strategically to move into permanent work.

How to use this guide

If you haven't started CRT work yet, read it end to end before you register with an agency. If you're already doing CRT days, jump to the sections most relevant to where you're struggling. The compliance section (Section 2) covers state-specific requirements — go there if you're unsure what checks you need.

Contents
  1. 01What CRT actually is — and what it isn't3
  2. 02Getting on the books — compliance, agencies, direct registration4
  3. 03Your first day — what to bring, what to say, how to survive5
  4. 04Behaviour management — in a school that doesn't know you6
  5. 05Making an impression — how to get called back7
  6. 06CRT rates and conditions — what you'll actually earn8
  7. 07Turning casual work into permanent roles — the long game9
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01
What CRT actually is
And what it isn't

Casual Relief Teaching means showing up to a school — often on the same morning you're called — to cover for an absent teacher. You are not a permanent staff member. You are not a long-term replacement. You have no desk, no class of your own, and often no relationship with the school before you walk in the door. You're there to keep the day running.

That sounds bleak. It isn't. CRT is also one of the fastest ways to build a professional network across multiple schools, develop classroom confidence, and get in front of the principals who make permanent hiring decisions. Teachers who approach CRT strategically — not just as survival — get permanent roles faster than those who don't.

Government vs non-government CRT: In government schools, CRT work is arranged through department booking systems or directly with schools. In Catholic and independent schools, it's typically managed by the school directly or through private agencies. You will likely need to register separately for each sector.

Three things to remember

First, every booking is an interview you didn't apply for. Principals and heads of faculty watch closely. Second, CRT work is feedback-rich (you'll see five schools' systems in your first month, and learn faster than any colleague locked into one staffroom). Third, the relationships you build during CRT days are the most direct path to permanent work in your sector.

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02
Getting on the books
Compliance, agencies, and direct registration
Step one: your state compliance requirements

Before you can work as a CRT in any school, you need two things active: your teacher registration and your Working with Children clearance. These are separate requirements, managed by different bodies in each state.

Compliance requirements by state
NSWNESA provisional or full registration + WWCC (paid employment category, via Service NSW)
VICVIT registration (provisional or full) + Working with Children Check (via WWCC Victoria)
QLDQCT registration (provisional or full) + Blue Card (via Blue Card Services)
WATRBWA registration + Working with Children Card (via DoJ WA)
SATRB SA registration + DCSI Screening (via Screening Unit SA)
TASTRB Tasmania registration + Registration to Work with Vulnerable People (via Communities Tas)
ACTTRBACT registration + Working with Vulnerable People registration (via Access Canberra)
NTTRB NT registration + Ochre Card (via NT Gov)

Apply for your Working with Children clearance before you graduate. Processing times vary from days to weeks, and can take longer during peak periods.

Agencies vs direct registration

Most CRT work is sourced through two channels: staffing agencies (who hold contracts with schools and call you from a pool) and direct school relationships (where a school keeps your details and calls you directly). Both are worth pursuing. Agencies are easier to get started with — register once and they handle the bookings. The trade-off is that agency rates are typically lower than direct rates, and the agency takes a margin.

Direct registration at schools you'd actually like to work at permanently is the higher-value play. Call the front office, introduce yourself, ask if they keep a CRT list, and follow up with a brief email with your registration and WWCC numbers. Three to five targeted schools is better than a scattergun approach across twenty.

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03
Your first day
What to bring, what to say, how to survive

You'll usually get the call the night before or the morning of. When it comes, write down the school name, the year level and subject if they tell you, the name of who called you, and what time to arrive. Then look the school up immediately — find the address, check if there's a specific entry point for visitors, and note the suburb.

What to bring
1
Your registration and WWCC numbers

Schools are required to verify these. Have them in your phone — not just at home. Some schools ask for the physical card; carry it.

2
A CRT activity kit

A folder of age-appropriate, curriculum-adjacent activities — word games, logic puzzles, comprehension passages, drawing tasks. You will have a class with no work left for them at some point. This is your parachute.

3
A notebook and pen

For writing down names, recording incidents, and leaving a clear handover note for the returning teacher.

4
Lunch, water, and professional dress

Don't assume food is accessible. Go smarter than you think you need to — first impressions with front office staff set the tone for the whole day.

The first five minutes of class

Write your name on the board before the students arrive. Introduce yourself, set the expectation clearly, and establish your behaviour expectations in the first two minutes. Don't wait to see if there's a problem. Students read a CRT as an opportunity to test limits — close that window before they open it.

Ask who your first-point-of-contact is at the front office before you walk into your first class. Know their name before you need it.

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04
Behaviour management
In a school that doesn't know you

Behaviour management is harder for CRTs than for permanent staff for one simple reason: you have no relationship capital. Students haven't spent a term building trust with you, and they know you'll be gone tomorrow. You need a different approach than the one your practicum prepared you for.

The principles that actually work for CRTs
Learn the school's system immediately

Ask what the school's behaviour management system is before class. Name systems, reflection sheets, referral processes — they vary by school. Work within the system you find, not the one you prefer.

Use names early and often

Use a seating plan or ask students to write names on a card at the start. Naming a student changes the dynamic — they become a person, not a face.

Calm, not zero-tolerance

Rigid zero-tolerance from a stranger rarely works. Low-key, persistent calm — redirecting, repositioning, private conversations — is more effective and more sustainable across a full day.

Never argue in front of the class

If a student pushes back publicly, don't engage. Lower your voice, reduce the stakes, and follow up privately. Public arguments with a CRT go badly. Every time.

When to escalate

Escalate sooner than you think. CRTs often avoid escalating because they feel it reflects poorly on them — it doesn't. What reflects poorly is a situation that deteriorates because you waited too long. If a student is aggressive, unsafe, or refuses to comply after a clear and calm direction, go to the front office or send for the duty teacher. That's what the system is for.

Document any incidents in writing before you leave. Date, time, student name if known, what happened, what you did. Leave a copy with the front office and keep one for yourself.

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05
Making an impression
How to get called back

Getting called back to the same school repeatedly is the most valuable thing you can do as a CRT. It builds a relationship, which builds a reputation, which is how permanent roles happen. Most CRTs who get stuck in casual work indefinitely are the ones who treat every booking as a one-off transaction.

1
Leave a detailed handover note

Write up what you covered, where the class got to, any issues that arose, and what's next. Leave it on the teacher's desk. This is the single most differentiating thing a CRT can do. Almost none do it.

2
Introduce yourself to the deputy or head of faculty

Not to pitch yourself — just to exist as a person rather than a name on a list. One natural hallway conversation does more than a formal introduction.

3
Sign in and sign out, always

Sounds obvious. Plenty of CRTs disappear without signing out. This creates administrative problems for schools, who remember it.

4
Say yes to difficult bookings

Year 9 maths with a known difficult class on a Friday afternoon. Schools remember who took those bookings without complaining. They call those people first next time.

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06
CRT rates and conditions
What you'll actually earn

CRT pay varies by state, sector, and employment channel (direct vs agency). The figures below are indicative daily rates for government school CRT work. Catholic and independent rates are similar but set by individual enterprise agreements. Agency rates are typically lower than direct rates by 10–20%.

StateDaily rate (indicative)Source / Agreement
NSW~$450–$530NSW DoE — current Teachers Award rate
VIC~$470–$550Victorian Government Schools Agreement
QLD~$440–$510Queensland Teachers' Certified Agreement
WA~$460–$540WA Department of Education Agreement
SA~$420–$490DECD Enterprise Agreement

CRT work is paid as casual employment. You receive the casual loading, but you have no access to sick leave, annual leave, or long service leave. You also have no guaranteed hours.

What this means in practice

A full week of CRT work in NSW or VIC nets roughly the same gross income as a permanent first-year teacher — but without paid leave, superannuation continuity across breaks, or guaranteed work over school holidays. Budget for the gaps. Many CRTs find school holidays genuinely unpaid, even when they've been working consistently throughout the term.

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07
Turning casual work into permanent roles
The long game

Most permanent teaching roles are not filled through public advertising. They're filled through relationships — a principal who knows a CRT who shows up reliably, manages classes well, and fits the culture. The formal job ad is often the last step, not the first.

Concentrate your CRT days at two or three schools rather than spreading thinly. When a maternity leave or long-term contract comes up, you want your name to come up before the position is advertised. The teachers who move from casual to permanent fastest are the ones who treat three or four schools as their employers — not the agency.

Teacher Passport
Free Tool

Find CRT-friendly schools near you

Teacher Passport aggregates casual and relief teaching roles across government, Catholic, and independent schools in one place. Search by location, filter by sector, and set alerts when new roles open.

All sectors in one search Real-time job alerts Map-based school search Free for all teachers
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