QLD Teacher Salary 2026: Pay Scales, Steps, and What to Expect

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A four-year-trained graduate in a Queensland state school starts at $86,600, and an experienced classroom teacher can reach $126,795 without moving into leadership. Two things shape the picture: an interim pay increase that landed on 7 September 2026 after more than two years without one, and was worth far less to some teachers than others, and a Band structure that tracks your QCT registration as you move from graduate to fully registered. This guide covers the full government scale, the Catholic and independent sectors, rural allowances, and what lands in your account after tax.

1. How Queensland teacher pay works

Queensland state school teachers are employed under the Department of Education State School Teachers' Certified Agreement 2022 and the Teachers' Award – State 2016. [Source: QIRC, Certified Agreement 2022, CB135]

Pay is organised into bands and steps:

• Band 1 is the intern band, for pre-graduate entrants. It is not a graduate rate
• Band 2 is the main four-year-trained classroom teacher scale (four steps)
• Band 3 is the upper classroom teacher scale (four steps)
• Above Band 3 sit Senior Teacher, Experienced Senior Teacher, and the Highly Accomplished Teacher and Lead Teacher classifications

You move up one step per year for satisfactory service. Movement between bands and into the senior classifications is based on service plus demonstrated standards, not automatic.

The registration link

Your pay band sits alongside your registration with the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT). New teachers hold provisional registration, which reflects the Graduate career stage of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. After at least one year (200 days of teaching), you transition to full registration at the Proficient career stage. [Source: QCT, provisional-to-full registration, 2025]

2. Full government pay scale

The rates below took effect on 7 September 2026, following the QIRC interim increase. They are derived from the CA 2022 rates as at 1 July 2024 plus 3%, absorbed against the 2025 State Wage Case where that paid more, so confirm against the QTU schedule once it is reissued. [Source: QTU, salaries payable under DoE State School Teachers' CA 2022, as varied by the QIRC interim decision of 7 September 2026]

Band 1 and Band 2 (classroom teacher)

A four-year-trained graduate starts at Band 2, Step 1 ($86,600). Teachers with recognised prior experience may be placed higher.

Band 3 and senior classifications

The Experienced Senior Teacher classification ($126,795) is the senior classroom-teacher mark in Queensland. The Highly Accomplished Teacher and Lead Teacher classifications align with the national HALT certification and pay up to $147,048 while keeping you in a teaching role. [Source: QTU, CA 2022 salary schedule, as varied by the QIRC interim decision of 7 September 2026]

3. The 2025–26 pay dispute

Queensland teacher pay is unsettled going into 2026, and it matters for what you will actually earn.

The 2022 agreement delivered increases of 4%, 4%, and 3% across its three years, plus an annual cost-of-living adjustment capped at 3% where CPI ran higher. [Source: QTU, guide to the proposed certified agreement, 2022] It reached its nominal expiry around mid-2025, and a replacement has not been agreed.

The state government offered 8% over three years, which was accepted by Queensland police and paramedics but rejected by teachers. The Queensland Teachers' Union (QTU) is claiming 24% over three years, citing analysis from University of Sydney Business School economists. [Source: EducationHQ, 2025]

4. How you progress

Progression in Queensland is more transparent than in states with performance-gated steps.

Annual increments

Within a band, you advance one step each year for satisfactory service. A graduate moves from Band 2, Step 1 to Step 4 over roughly three years.

Band 2 to Band 3

Movement to Band 3 reflects accumulated service and continued satisfactory performance as a fully registered teacher. From graduate entry, reaching the top of Band 3 ($114,958) takes around eight years of continuous service.

Senior and Experienced Senior Teacher

These classifications recognise sustained experience beyond Band 3. They are not automatic; eligibility depends on service and meeting the criteria.

Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher

These map to the national HALT certification, assessed against the Australian Professional Standards at the two highest career stages. They reward expert classroom practice rather than a move into administration.

Experience recognition at entry

If you have prior teaching experience in another state or sector, you can ask to have it recognised when you are placed on the scale. A teacher arriving from interstate may enter above Band 2, Step 1.

5. Catholic school pay: Brisbane Catholic Education and Diocesan schools

Catholic systemic schools across Queensland, including Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE), are covered by the Catholic Employing Authorities Single Enterprise Collective Agreement – Diocesan Schools of Queensland. [Source: QCEC, Diocesan EB10, 2023–2026] The scale below took effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2025. [Source: Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic Schools, teacher salary scale, July 2025]

Catholic vs government at entry

Catholic Graduate entry ($86,600) and the government Band 2, Step 1 ($86,600) are now level, after the September 2026 interim increase closed a gap that had been open since July 2024. Once the arbitration concludes the comparison will shift again. Across the full scale the two systems track each other closely.

The Catholic step names (Graduate, Proficient, Experienced Proficient, Highly Accomplished, Lead) mirror the QCT and AITSL career stages, so your salary step and your registration stage move together. This Catholic agreement passed its nominal expiry on 30 June 2026, so the scale above is the last one set under it and a replacement is being negotiated. Confirm the current figure with your diocese before relying on it.

6. Independent school pay in Queensland

Independent schools in Queensland do not share a single salary scale. Each school is its own employer, and Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ) does not set rates. The floor is the national Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020. [Source: Fair Work Commission, MA000077]

In practice:

• Most established independent schools pay at or above government rates for equivalent experience
• Well-resourced and high-fee schools can pay above the government scale
• Smaller non-systemic and faith-based schools may sit closer to the Award floor

Because there is no published scale, treat any single figure as indicative. If you are weighing an independent offer, ask directly:

A current government rate for your experience level is the most useful benchmark when comparing.

7. Rural and remote: allowances and incentives

Teaching in rural and remote Queensland adds to your package through allowances and targeted incentives.

Locality allowance

The locality allowance assists with the higher cost of living in remote centres, paid under the public sector Locality Allowances directive (Directive 16/18). Amounts depend on the location and run up to around $4,596 per year for a teacher without dependants and around $9,193 per year for a teacher with dependants. [Source: Queensland Government, Locality Allowances Directive 16/18] Teachers with a dependent spouse or child receive the full centre rate; those without receive half.

Recognition of Rural and Remote Service (RoRRS)

The RoRRS scheme bundles the financial and career benefits of remote service, including locality allowance, travel and compensation benefits, and recognition-of-service payments. [Source: Queensland Government, RoRRS scheme, 2025] Teach Queensland publishes a calculator that estimates the benefits for a specific school.

Other supports

• Rural and Remote Housing Incentive Scheme: rent assistance for eligible teachers, available from July 2024 [Source: Teach Queensland, 2024]
• Beginning teacher payment: under the 2022 agreement, a one-off payment for rural and remote placements was extended from 95 to 237 schools, with the maximum raised from $1,000 to $2,000 [Source: QTU, 2022]
• Recent fixed-term programs such as the Regional Attraction and Retention payment ($900 in 2024 and 2025) have closed to new participants, so confirm current-year eligibility before counting on them

8. Take-home pay: two examples

Estimated figures based on 2025–26 ATO income tax brackets and Medicare levy (2%). Employer superannuation (12.75%) is paid separately and does not reduce take-home pay. Neither example includes HECS-HELP repayments.

9. How Queensland compares to other states

Every figure below is the graduate rate and the top of the classroom scale under that jurisdiction's current agreement or award. Promotion and accreditation classifications, which sit above the scale, are excluded so the columns compare like with like. [Sources: each state's current agreement or award, as recorded in the pay scale data behind this site]

Queensland's graduate figure sat still from July 2024 until September 2026 while other states settled new agreements, and the interim increase has only partly closed that. The substantive determination could move it further, though the interim was expressly not backdated. The table compares classroom scales only. Queensland's Lead Teacher classification pays $147,048 and keeps you teaching, which is competitive with the equivalent accreditation and promotion grades elsewhere, but it is an accreditation rather than a step you reach by service, so it does not belong in the same column as a top of scale. When comparing a move, weigh cost of living and the specific role alongside the headline number.

Browse current QLD teaching jobs to see what is available right now, or use the pay calculator to estimate your net take-home at any step.

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