Educational Services (Teachers) Award
Covers teachers in schools, preschools, kindergartens, long day care centres, OOSH, vacation care, family day care and early childhood intervention services. 5 levels (L1 graduate → L5 Highly Accomplished/Lead Teacher) accreditation-driven, with two parallel sector pay scales (preschools/schools vs long day care, the latter carrying a 4% premium because LDC employees aren't covered by the cl 15 ord-hours rules). Standard rate is the L1 annual figure ($72,497). Several distinctive features: schools have a 7-week termination notice (overrides NES), schools-only leadership allowance is a 9-tier matrix, ECEC director and educational leader allowances are ECEC-only, and Schedule A early childhood services (≥48 weeks/year) have a separate rule set with paid meal breaks, OT, shift loadings and an optional 19-day/4-week RDO model.
Fully built. Rates, allowances, penalties and any required apprentice / junior rates are all wired to the rate resolver and have been verified against the consolidated award text and the latest pay guide.
What's built
- All 10 cl. 17.1 classifications at corrected July 2025 figures (preschools/schools L1 $1,389.40 → L5 $1,922.40; long day care L1 $1,444.90 → L5 $1,999.30 - the 4% cl. 17.2 premium).
- Standard rate config = annual $72,497 (cl. 2 def + Schedule C.1.1) with weekly divisor 52.18 (cl. 17.3) - distinct from the typical weekly basis.
- All 9 cl. 19.3 leadership allowance tiers seeded (Cat A/B/C × Levels 1/2/3 - schools only, $1,159.95 to $5,799.76 per annum).
- All 3 cl. 19.2 director allowance tiers (≤39 / 40-59 / 60+ places - ECEC only) and the cl. 19.4 educational leader allowance ($4,567.31/yr ECEC only).
- Penalty rates correctly scoped to Schedule A teachers only (early childhood ≥48 weeks/year): Schedule A.5.2 shift loadings (110% / 115% / 117.5% / 130% / Saturday 125%) and Schedule A.4.1 OT (150% first 3hrs / 200% after). Schools and ECEC <48wks have no OT/penalty/shift loadings under this award.
- Schedule A specifics: paid 20-30 min meal break (A.3.1), interrupted meal 150% min 15 min (A.3.1(c)), 10-hour break + 200% fail-to-rest (A.1.5(b)), non-contact time entitlement (A.3.2 - 2hrs/wk programming + 2hrs/wk educational leader cumulative).
- All 12 default super funds per cl. 20.4 (substituted by PR794771 ppc 23 Jan 2026): NGS Super, UniSuper, Equipsuper, Prime Super, Aware Super, HESTA, CareSuper, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, AMP Super Fund, Mercer Super Trust, Australian Ethical Retail Superannuation Fund.
- 7-week termination notice for schools (cl. 32.1) and 4-week for ECEC (cl. 32.2) - overrides NES; 2-week max employee notice deduction (cl. 32.3(b)).
- Annual leave clauses 21-23 fully encoded - 17.5% loading on 4 weeks NES (cl. 23.2), AL must be taken during non-term weeks for schools (cl. 21.2), 1.342% rolled-into-salary loading alternative (cl. 23.5), pro rata salary formula P = (S × C / B) - D (cl. 22.5).
- Six pay conditions split FT/PT/Casual into Schools/Preschools and Schedule A pairs to handle the rule-set divergence cleanly.
Known limitations
- Casual daily rate model (full day = weekly/5 + 25%; ECEC tiered min payment 2hr/4hr/full-day per cl. 17.5(c)) is captured via configuration plus a fallback hourly × 1.25 rate; the payroll engine should compute the cl. 17.5(b) daily figure directly rather than scaling the hourly rate.
- Pro rata salary formula (cl. 22.5) is stored as a config string; payroll must implement the P = (S × C / B) - D calculation when terminating a school teacher mid-year or after >2 term weeks of unpaid leave.
- PT 90% cap (cl. 11.1-11.3 - above 90% = considered FT) is captured as a configuration flag; resolver/onboarding flow should validate at hire / variation time since the schema doesn't enforce it.
- 205 max attendance days/year for school teachers (cl. 15.5) is a config flag; operational compliance check, not enforced by schema.
- APST compliance assessments (cl. 14.3, 14.5(c)(ii), 14.6(c)(ii)) - the auto-deemed equivalency triggers at 2 years (proficient) and 3 years L4 service (Highly Accomplished/Lead) are runtime checks against employee records, not seeded.
Setup & special instructions
- Schedule A teachers (early childhood services operating ≥48 weeks/year) follow a SEPARATE rule set from schools/preschools - cl 15 ord hours and cl 16.1 unpaid meal break do NOT apply; Schedule A overrides. The penalty rows in this seeder are scoped to Schedule A only via the employment_types JSON marker.
- Standard rate is ANNUAL ($72,497), not weekly. All wage-related allowance percentages (director, leadership, educational leader) compute against the annual figure. Weekly = annual / 52.18 (cl. 17.3, NOT /52).
- Casual engagements <5 consecutive days are capped at L3 even if the employee qualifies for L4 or L5 (cl. 17.5(a)(i)). Resolver consults employee classification + engagement duration at rate-computation time.
- Schools termination notice is 7 term weeks (cl. 32.1), inclusive of NES. The termination engine must use this for school employees, not fall back to the NES 1/2/3/4-week table - under-payment risk at every tenure bracket.
- When the employer has elected the cl. 23.5 rolled-in 1.342% AL loading alternative, do NOT pay the 17.5% lump sum at AL time - the loading is already in the annual salary. The election is recorded in the letter of appointment (cl. 23.6).
- Leadership allowances are SCHOOLS ONLY (cl. 19.3(a)(i)); director and educational leader allowances are ECEC ONLY (cl. 19.2(a), 19.4(a)). Don't apply across sectors.
- • Schools
- • Preschools
- • Kindergartens
- • Early childhood education
- • Long day care
- • OOSH
- • Vacation care
- • Family day care
- • Children's services
- • Education
The consolidated award text is the authoritative source. Always confirm specific obligations against the award itself - Mployr's implementation status reflects what we've seeded; it does not replace legal advice.
Want to see this award running on your data?
We can demo a pay run on the teachers award using sample employees in a sandbox tenant - including any of the special-instruction steps above so you can see exactly what your team's day-to-day looks like.
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