One secondary teacher who has been in the profession for more than 40 years tells EducationHQ she is acutely aware of her age and her comparatively higher salary, saying she feels she would have little hope of securing another full-time position if she were to leave her current school.

“At one point, my principal said to me, ‘you can apply for positions, but we only hire graduates’.

“So [school leadership] take people fresh out of uni because they’re graduates for four years, and they want to have those on a cheaper pay scale.”

The teacher explains she wouldn’t go so far as to say there is ageism in teaching, but says ‘even if I wanted to change, I’d never get another job at my age’.

“Because what are they getting for the money? They’re getting an old teacher at the top of the scale – experienced and old, but too old, they would say.

“There’s a perception that you’re ‘past it’.”

Under the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2026, graduate teachers start on an annual salary of $92,882, with teachers at the top of the classroom scale on $133,456. 

Salary progression in the state is tied to a Performance and Development (P&D) cycle, a structured annual process that occurs between each teacher and their reviewer (a principal or delegate).

Leaders of public schools in Victoria are charged with managing teachers’ salaries which come out of their school budget.

This often means there’s a balance that needs to be struck between employing new graduates to take classes at younger year levels, but ensuring there are at least some experienced teachers to fill the senior levels, the teacher to whom we spoke reports.

“However, what’s happening now is that experienced teachers are leaving the system and teaching completely.

“So, schools are losing those experienced teachers – and actually no one’s staying in the profession long enough to become that experienced anymore.”

The educator describes a ‘dearth’ of mid-career teachers in their 30s and 40s across the system.

“If you’re looking for experienced people in the system, you’re probably poaching them – schools are definitely poaching people from other schools.

“So in some ways experienced teachers, who are perhaps not as old as me, can for the first time have some power to move schools. If they don’t like a place, they can move or look for a better role and they’ll probably get it.”

The teacher describes feeling like ’a slave to the salary system’.

“Having staff pay come directly out of the school budget  … means leaders want to squeeze the most out of those salaries they pay.

“So, if you’re an experienced teacher they’re expecting you to have that position of responsibility, like a head of department or year level coordinator, and they’ll work you – they’ll work you for every hour.

“If you’re paying that top of the scale salary, you don’t want anyone working half an hour less than they should be, because you’re costing the school money – so there’s an emphasis on constructing timetables and daily lessons around how you maximise the usage of your employees.”

Posting recently on the Australian teachers Reddit page, one 53-year-old teacher said they had applied for a teaching job at a school with a younger staff cohort and that he’d heard his chances of getting the position were low because most schools wouldn’t consider hiring someone over 50.

“I’m sure I have a good 7-10 years left in me. 🤷‍♂️” he lamented.

Commenting on the post, one teacher said this resonated with their experience.

“…Once you are at the top of the pay scale they are more reticent to hire you. I had a contract offered but not sent. When I asked when I might receive the contract they told me that they didn’t realise that I was at the top of the scale and that I wasn’t in budget for the school.”

Another argued that Victoria should be looking to NSW for a solution on this front.

“The AEU should push for NSW’s model, where the DoE covers the salary gap so schools aren’t financially incentivised to hire grads over experienced teachers. Why isn’t this a union priority?” they urged.

Another noted that some schools “skew younger because leadership wants teachers who are easy to manipulate and less aware of their rights”.

“This is more common in private than public, but it happens in both,’ they added.

However, others said they didn’t think age and experience was a barrier to employment in schools.

“…Especially in shortage subjects and regional schools. You have a pulse, welcome aboard,” one quipped.

“My school in WA is pulling teachers out of retirement and trying to coax in casual teachers to do full time gigs. I think you’ll be fine!” another posted.