Hey educators,

A quick chat about money, I mean our educators’ award. As we work across diversity of centres, it may be confusing when it comes to salary and getting your paycheck.

First, let’s talk about the difference between these three: Award vs Enterprise Agreement vs VECTEA

• Awards are the baseline pay and conditions set by the Fair Work Commission. In early childhood, the relevant one is the Children’s Services Award 2010. It sets minimum pay rates (e.g. Diploma Level 3.4 = $30.59/hr in July 2024), plus conditions like breaks and overtime. No employer can go below this.
• Enterprise Agreement (EBA/EA) is a deal negotiated between an employer (like Goodstart, KU, G8) and its employees (often with a union). It sets out wages and conditions for that organisation, and must leave workers better off overall than the Award. An EA usually runs for a few years, then gets renegotiated. Because employers compete for staff, these agreements often pay above Award rates.
• VECTEA (Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Agreement) is specific type of enterprise agreement for the community kindergarten sector in Victoria, negotiated with the Department of Education and the union. It covers both teachers and educators in sessional kinders, and is often described as the “gold standard” for conditions (lots of leave, guaranteed non-contact time, PD days), but the hourly pay rates aren’t always the highest compared with big LDC EBAs.

You may ask: why the differences matter? Let me explain:

Kindergarten (sessional, VECTEA) educators are covered by VECTEA. Pay can look lower per hour, but the trade-off is conditions: 10 weeks leave (HOLIDAYS!!!) , extra PD/organisation days, allowances, and protections like minimum non-contact time.

LDC (Long Day Care) educators are usually covered by the Children’s Services Award or an enterprise agreement their employer has in place. If it’s just the Award, pay is at the minimum. If it’s an EA, pay is usually higher. Big employers like Goodstart or KU have EBAs with boosted pay (recently Goodstart added 10% in 2024).

In practice

• A Diploma educator in LDC on a strong EA might be paid more per hour than a Diploma under VECTEA.
• A Diploma educator in LDC on just the Award would usually earn less than a VECTEA diploma.
• VECTEA wins on overall work-life balance and entitlements; LDC EBAs can win on wages.

What award are you on?

What’s changed in 2025?

• Awards went up on 1 July 2025 (these are the national minimum pay scales set by Fair Work).
  • Diploma in LDC: now about $31.66/hr.
  • From December 2024, wages in LDC got a 10% lift.
  • From December 2025, they’ll get another 5%.
  • This only applies in services that get CCS funding (long day care, not sessional kindergartens).

What about Early Childhood Teachers or ECTs? It depends on where you work, of course.

ECTs in Long Day Care are usually covered by the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020, or by an enterprise agreement if the service has one (e.g. Goodstart, KU, some council-run centres).

Award base rates for a 4-year trained ECT (as of July 2024) start around $69K and move into the mid-$80Ks annually. Under strong EBAs, this can be higher, for example, Goodstart’s EA has pulled rates up by 10% in 2024, with another 5% coming. Non-contact time exists, but it may be more limited than in sessional kindergarten

ECTs in Community Kindergartens (on VECTEA in Victoria)

• We are covered by the Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Agreement (VECTEA). This is a sector-wide enterprise agreement for funded 3- and 4-year-old kindergarten programs in community or council settings.
• The hourly rates translate into salaries from the mid-$70Ks up to over $100K for experienced teachers (depending on classification). Not the very highest headline salaries in Australia, but strong compared to LDC Award.

VECTEA is good for many reasons: 46/52 model (paid 46 weeks across the year, with 10–12 weeks paid leave), guaranteed non-contact time, PD and organisational days built into the year, there are allowances for roles like Nominated Supervisor or First Aid. These conditions make community kinder very attractive for many teachers, even if raw salary is sometimes below private school levels.

• VECTEA (community kinder) in 2025 still in place while the new agreement is being worked on.
• Pay went up a little in July 2025 (linked to Fair Work’s annual increase).
• Example: A new teacher in VECTEA gets about $36.50/hr, while an experienced teacher can earn over $52/hr.
• So by the end of 2025, LDC teachers may out-earn VECTEA teachers on raw pay.

ECTs in Private Schools (including Independent and Catholic schools)

I recently visited a private school as a relief teacher and was very impressed by their resources and program. ECTs usually are hired under the relevant Schools Enterprise Agreement (Catholic EA, Independent Schools EA, or the state government’s public school agreement if employed in a state school with an ELC attached).

• Teachers are generally aligned to primary school pay scales. That means salaries from ~$75K for a graduate up to $120K+ for experienced teachers or those with leadership allowances. In some cases, ECTs in private school kindergartens earn more than both VECTEA and LDC teachers.

There are a few perks as well. ECTs in private schools enjoy long school breaks and smaller classes, pay parity with primary teachers and a lot of PDs that are paid four.