01-Education and social services

ANZSCO 2414Skill level 1Education and social services

Secondary teacher

Teach Year 7 to Year 12 students in one or two specialist methods, including HSC, VCE and QCE.

Registration: Registration or accreditation with the teacher regulator in your state or territory

Salary

Cited figures only: median full-time weekly earnings for the ANZSCO unit group Secondary School Teachers (2414) from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia), and where available the QILT graduate starting salary for the matching study area.

Figure	AUD	Source
Median full-time weekly earnings	$2166	Your Career (2026-09-23)
Graduate starting salary	$82,100	QILT (2026-08-31)

How far does this stretch in each city?

Jobs, demand and who does this work

Figures for the ANZSCO occupation Secondary School Teacher (241411), the closest official match for secondary teacher, from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia data, sourced 2026-09-23).

People employed: 153,800
Future demand: Stable
Work full-time: 78%
Average full-time hours: 45 a week
Women: 62%
Median age: 42

Where the jobs are (share of workers)

NSW	33.6%
VIC	25.5%
QLD	20.3%
WA	9.5%
SA	6.3%
TAS	2.1%
ACT	1.7%
NT	1.1%

Highest qualification held by workers

Postgraduate qualification	41.8%
Bachelor degree	54.3%
Diploma or advanced diploma	1.9%
Certificate I-IV	0.3%
Year 12	0.9%
Below Year 12	0%

What a secondary teacher actually does

Secondary teachers run between five and six 60-to-75-minute lessons a day across multiple year levels and one or two specialist methods (for example, English and HSIE, or Maths and Science). The day usually opens with morning briefing or homeroom, then back-to-back lessons broken by recess and lunch, with playground or detention duty rostered through the week. There's also one or two non-teaching periods built into a normal load for planning, marking and meetings. After the bell, expect another 1-2 hours of marking, parent emails, faculty meetings and writing reports. Term 4 and the HSC, VCE, QCE or WACE marking windows are the heaviest weeks of the year, often including weekend work. Co-curricular obligations (sport coaching, debating, school musicals, camps) sit on top of the timetabled hours and most schools expect at least one a year. Many secondary teachers run at 45-55 hours a week in term time, with school holidays used for unit planning, exam writing and a real break.

Typical tasks

Plan senior-secondary teaching programmes.
Deliver lessons and run revision sessions.
Mark and moderate student work.

Skills you'll use

Deep subject content in your method areas
Australian Curriculum and senior syllabus design (HSC, VCE, QCE, WACE, SACE, TCE, NT, ACT)
Designing summative and formative assessment plus rubrics
Marking, moderation and writing report comments
Classroom management of adolescents (years 7 through 12)
Pastoral care and child-protection mandatory reporting
Working with parents and external tutors

How to become one

1Finish Year 12 with the subject prerequisites for your intended method (for example, Maths Methods if you want to teach Maths)
2Complete a 4-year accredited Bachelor of Education (Secondary), or a 3-year undergrad degree in your discipline followed by a 2-year Master of Teaching (Secondary)
3Choose one or two teaching methods. Most states require you to have studied the equivalent of a major (at least 6 units) in your first method
4Sit and pass the LANTITE (Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education) before final placement
5Complete the supervised teaching practicum (60 plus days) including a senior-secondary block
6Apply to your state registration authority (NESA, VIT, QCT, TRBSA, TRBWA, TRB Tas, TQI, NT TRB) and get a Working With Children Check
7Apply for graduate roles through state teacher recruitment, Catholic education offices or independent school networks. Methods in shortage (Maths, Physics, IT, D&T, languages) get priority placement and incentives

Where you can work

State government high schools and senior secondary colleges
Catholic systemic secondary schools
Independent secondary schools (AIS and ISV networks)
Selective and partially selective schools
Rural and remote schools (location incentives in shortage methods)
Distance education and virtual schools
International schools and the Defence Force schools network

Career progression

Typical stages and roles. Years of experience are a rough guide; pay at each stage depends on the employer, award or agreement.

Graduate
0-2 years
Typical roles: Graduate secondary teacher, Provisional registered teacher
Proficient teacher
3-7 years
Typical roles: Classroom teacher, Year-level coordinator, Subject coordinator
Highly accomplished or lead
8-15 years
Typical roles: Head of faculty, Director of senior school, Curriculum leader
School leadership
15+ years
Typical roles: Deputy principal, Principal, Head of senior school

Is this for you?

This might not suit you if

You don't want regular adolescent behaviour management
You hate marking and detailed feedback
You want a job where you can keep work and home strictly separate
You can't take a week of HSC or VCE marking pressure
You want to work mostly with adults

Ways in

Uni and TAFE routes for secondary teacher. We only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.

University

Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.

TAFE / VET

Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.

No direct TAFE pathway to this career.

State variations

NSW: Accreditation with the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) is required to teach in NSW schools.
VIC: Registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) is required to teach in Victorian schools.
QLD: Registration with the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) is required to teach in Queensland schools.
SA: Registration with the Teachers Registration Board of South Australia is required to teach in SA schools.
WA: Registration with the Teacher Registration Board of Western Australia (TRBWA) is required to teach in WA schools.
TAS: Registration with the Teachers Registration Board of Tasmania is required to teach in Tasmanian schools.
NT: Registration with the Teacher Registration Board of the Northern Territory is required to teach in NT schools.
ACT: Registration with the ACT Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) is required to teach in ACT schools.

Sources

ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Your Career (yourcareer.gov.au) directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.