CIT teachers to get up to 33 per cent pay boost

The starting pay for a CIT teacher will go from about $80,673 to $107,501 by the end of 2025 while teachers on the top of the pay scale will have their pay boosted from $107,642 to $123,449.

Australian Education Union ACT branch secretary Patrick Judge said the outcome for CIT teachers in enterprise bargaining was unprecedented.

"It's the best outcome on pay they've had for some time but it also provides a range of improved conditions and entitlements that we're really happy to have been able to achieve on behalf of our members," Mr Judge said.

Mr Judge said the previous pay rates made it difficult to attract experienced people from trades and other fields to be teachers.

"CIT teachers are never in their first year of work, they're always somebody who's had experience in the industry or in whatever area it is they're teaching in before they come to CIT," he said.

"So the typical career stage of a CIT teacher is much later than it is to teachers entering, for example, schools."

A CIT spokesman said they were pleased to reach an agreement with a 95 per cent yes vote from those who participated.

"CIT values our teaching workforce and knows that attraction and retention of our educators is core to the ongoing success of CIT, and vocational education and training in our region more broadly," the spokesman said.

"As part of this agreement, we have restructured teacher salary classifications and conditions accordingly. All CIT educators have been provided with the same increase as other ACT government employees."

CIT and the union have agreed to work on pilot programs to ease teacher workloads.

Mr Judge said this could take the form of changing overtime arrangements or recognising extra student support or compliance duties by reducing teaching load. He said the fee-free TAFE scheme had added to the workload of teachers.

"It's a great problem to have, from the perspective that we're doing something really great. that's reinvigorating TAFE for students and for our members and for the community," he said.

"But at the same time, the people who are enrolling in fee-free TAFE often they're people with higher levels of need, particularly who need higher levels of academic support."

Mr Judge said there were mixed feelings among CIT staff as some felt their pay trailed the rates of ACT school teachers.

Teachers will receive back pay from January this year.