"So, when are you going to get a real teaching job?"
If you've been doing casual teaching for more than a few months, you've heard some version of this. From family, from friends, sometimes from the permanent teachers at the schools you work at. The assumption is consistent: casual teaching is a stepping stone, something done while waiting for a permanent role.The data tells a more complex story.
How Many People Work as Casual Relief Teachers?
More than you think. Australia’s teaching workforce includes approximately 553,000 registered teachers. Of those working as casual relief teachers (CRTs), the profile is surprisingly experienced. According to AITSL’s 2023 Australian Teacher Workforce Data:
- 24% of CRTs have 40+ years of experience. These aren’t people waiting for a permanent role — they’re people who have chosen this.
- 23% are early career (1–5 years), which includes graduates using casual teaching as an entry point.
- 59% of CRTs work part-time — fewer than four days per week. Only 31% work full-time equivalent hours.
Casual teaching covers a wide range of experiences. Some people are building towards permanent work. Others are choosing flexibility. Both groups are substantial.
What Does Casual Teaching Actually Pay?
Let’s talk numbers, because the money question matters.Casual teacher pay rates are set by state-level awards and enterprise agreements. They vary by state, school sector, and experience level. Here’s the general landscape in 2025–2026:
- NSW: $466–$582/day (CT1 graduate to CT3 experienced)
- VIC: Up to $425.80/day
- QLD: $482–$492/day (flat rate, not tiered by experience)
- SA: $395–$573/day (9-tier system based on experience)
- WA: $46.83–$75.18/hr (~$356–$572/day depending on hours and experience)
Rates are from current government school enterprise agreements. Catholic and independent school rates are negotiated separately. Agency rates may be lower after the agency takes their margin. Direct bookings (through platforms like ClassCover) mean you keep the full rate. See ClassCover’s full salary guide for a complete breakdown.
The maths on annual income
If you work 4 days per week across a 40-week school year (allowing for school holidays, quiet periods, and the odd sick day), that’s roughly 160 working days. At a mid-range rate of $470/day, that’s approximately $75,200 before tax.
Working 3 days per week, which many casuals do by choice, brings it to around $56,400.
These are ceiling estimates for a consistently booked casual teacher. In practice, AITSL data shows only 31% of CRTs work full-time equivalent hours, and most casuals will have gaps between bookings, quiet weeks at the start of term, and periods without work during school holidays. They’re also significantly below what a permanent teacher at the same experience level would earn, once you factor in paid holidays, sick leave, and superannuation contributions on non-working days.
The trade-off is tangible: Total remuneration is lower than a permanent teacher at the same experience level, while flexibility, variety, and schedule control are higher.
Why People Choose to Stay Casual
There are genuine, rational reasons people choose casual teaching as a long-term arrangement.
1. Flexibility
This is the most cited reason, and it’s not a euphemism. Casual teaching lets you:
- Work around family commitments (school drop-offs, caring responsibilities)
- Travel during school holidays without negotiating leave
- Study part-time alongside teaching
- Manage a health condition that makes full-time work difficult
- Build a portfolio career that includes tutoring, content creation, or other education-adjacent work
For parents returning to the workforce, casual teaching offers a re-entry path that doesn’t require committing to five days a week immediately.
2. Variety
Permanent teachers teach the same students, in the same school, with the same colleagues, for years. Some people thrive on that consistency. Others don’t.
Casual teaching means a different school, different students, different challenges every day. For teachers who are energised by novelty rather than drained by it, this is a genuine advantage — not a consolation prize.
3. Avoiding Bureaucracy
This one is less often stated, but it is real. Permanent teaching roles come with staff meetings, parent-teacher nights, report writing, committee participation, playground politics, and, in some schools, a culture of presenteeism that extends well beyond school hours.
Casual teachers teach. You walk in, do the job, and walk out. For people energised by the classroom but worn down by institutional overhead, casual teaching strips away the friction.
4. Control
The AITSL data shows that teachers’ workload is the number one driver of attrition. Full-time teachers work an average of 46.4 hours per week according to TALIS 2024 — with 26% reporting more than 60 hours during term time. Burnout is widespread.
Casual teachers set their own limits. If you need a day off, you simply don’t mark yourself as available. There’s no paperwork, no negotiation, no guilt. In a profession where burnout is driving attrition, casual teaching offers a path: staying in education with a sustainable workload.
The Hard Parts (Honestly)
Casual teaching isn’t all flexibility and freedom. If it were, everyone would do it.
Income Volatility
Income varies week to week. Some weeks bring five days of work. Others bring none. School holidays are unpaid. Start-of-term is often slow. If you don’t budget for the quiet periods, the financial stress can be significant.
What helps: Building a strong network of 10–15 schools, keeping availability updated religiously, and maintaining a financial buffer of at least 4–6 weeks’ expenses.
No Paid Leave
No sick leave. No annual leave. No personal leave. When unwell, there is no income. This is the single biggest financial disadvantage of casual work compared to permanent employment.
Some casuals address this by budgeting a “leave fund” — setting aside a percentage of each day’s earnings to cover days off. It’s not the same as employer-funded leave, but it provides a cushion.
Limited Super and Benefits
If you’re employed directly by schools (as most casual teachers are), superannuation is paid on your earnings. But if you work fewer days, you accumulate less super over time. Long-service leave provisions for casual workers vary by state and are generally less generous than permanent arrangements.
Professional Isolation
You don’t have a staffroom. Not really. You’re in a different one every day, and you’re always the visitor. Over time, this can be genuinely lonely, particularly if you don’t have a community of casuals or a few “home schools” where you feel like part of the team.
Career Progression
The traditional teaching career ladder — classroom teacher → coordinator → head of department → deputy → principal — is designed for permanent staff. Casual teachers don’t have access to most of these pathways. If career progression matters to you, casual teaching may feel like a dead end unless you actively create alternatives.
The Gig Economy Lens
Casual teaching has more in common with the gig economy than most educators are comfortable admitting. Like rideshare drivers, freelance designers, and contract consultants, casual teachers trade stability for flexibility and manage their own workflow.
The difference is that casual teachers are highly qualified professionals working in a regulated environment. The daily rate reflects that. The work has intrinsic meaning. And unlike most gig economy roles, the demand for casual teachers is structural and growing, 83% of Australian schools reported staffing shortages in 2024.
Casual teaching is real work. The substantive question is whether the employment structures around it (pay, leave, super, professional development) adequately support the people doing it.
The employment structures around casual teaching are improving. The workforce and the platforms that support it are adapting.
Is It Viable? The Verdict
Casual teaching works as a long-term career when:
- You build a strong network of schools that know and trust you
- You manage the finances — budgeting for school holidays, no-work weeks, and the absence of paid leave
- You stay professionally current — maintaining registration, completing PD requirements, and keeping your skills sharp
- You find your community — other casuals, supportive schools, professional networks that reduce the isolation
- You’re honest about what you want — flexibility and variety over stability and progression
Casual teaching done reluctantly while waiting for a permanent role that never materialises is a holding pattern. Teachers who want permanent work should pursue it actively. Teachers who choose casual work benefit from committing to it fully.
The data shows that hundreds of thousands of Australians are making this work. 24% of CRTs have been doing it for 40 years or more. They’re not waiting, they’ve chosen.
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