Early Childhood Educator Pay Rate 2026-27
Educators in long day care, preschools and outside school hours care are covered by the Children's Services Award. The educator classifications are published below, with what each one leaves after tax.
Every casual rate on this page is derived, not quoted
The Children's Services Award 2010 (MA000120) publishes a minimum weekly rate for each classification and no summary schedule of hourly and casual rates. Most modern awards carry one. This one does not.
So every casual figure below is arithmetic rather than a quotation: the minimum hourly rate plus the 25 per cent loading the award’s casual clause requires. All 12 casual rates in this award are worked out that way, and each one is marked with an asterisk in the table. If a payslip disagrees with a casual figure here, check the weekly rate for the classification first, because that is the number the award actually prints.
The short answer
An early childhood educator is paid $28.81 an hour at Level 1—Introductory Educator, or $1,094.80 a week full-time. The educator band runs to $38.25 an hour at Level 6—Room Leader. A casual at the bottom of the band works out at $36.01 an hour once the 25% loading is added, though that casual figure is our arithmetic and not a rate the award prints.
Award floor
$28.81
Level 1—Introductory Educator, an hour
Top educator level
$38.25
Level 6—Room Leader, an hour
Casual, at the floor
$36.01
Includes the 25% loading
Take-home a year
$48,192
$1,854 a fortnight, at the floor
These are legal minimums set by a modern award, not a market average. This site does not publish average or advertised salaries, because the number that matters on a payslip is the floor an employer cannot go below. Many employers pay more, and an enterprise agreement can set a higher rate again.
Early childhood educator rates, level by level.
Adult rates for the educator classifications. The two management classifications above them, and the award’s second classification table, are on the award page.
Children’s Services Employee
1 July 2026 · PR799400
Read from the minimum rates table of the award. The weekly figure is what the award prints; the hourly and casual columns are worked out from it.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1—Introductory Educator | $1,094.80 | $28.81 | $36.01* | $48,192 |
| Level 2—Educator | $1,128.40 | $29.69 | $37.11* | $49,380 |
| Level 3—Qualified Educator | $1,233.90 | $32.47 | $40.59* | $53,111 |
| Level 4—Experienced Educator | $1,316.70 | $34.65 | $43.31* | $56,039 |
| Level 5—Advanced Educator | $1,389.50 | $36.57 | $45.71* | $58,613 |
| Level 6—Room Leader | $1,453.50 | $38.25 | $47.81* | $60,876 |
Hourly figures are the weekly rate over 38 ordinary hours. Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, worked out with the same Wage Calculator used across this site. Superannuation is paid by your employer on top of these rates and is never deducted from them. A casual figure marked * is not published in the award and is the minimum hourly rate plus the 25% loading.
Which award covers an early childhood educator.
The Children's Services Award 2010 (MA000120) covers employers in the children’s services and early childhood education industry and their employees: long day care, preschools and kindergartens, outside school hours care, vacation care and occasional care.
It classifies educators by level rather than by qualification name, and the level titles are the award’s own, from Level 1—Introductory Educator through Level 6—Room Leader. Two management classifications sit above that band and are not on this page. What decides which level applies is the award’s classification definitions, which this site has not published yet, so this page will not map a certificate or a diploma onto a level. If you want that mapping, the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool is the right source, not a rate table.
One exclusion catches people out constantly. A degree-qualified early childhood teacher is not covered by this award at all. Teachers sit under the Educational Services (Teachers) Award (MA000077), which has its own scale and its own progression, and this site does not publish it yet. A search for early childhood pay returns the two mixed together, which is how a teacher ends up comparing a payslip against an educator rate.
Award rates are also only the floor. Large centre operators and many not-for-profit providers run enterprise agreements that set their own rates and conditions, and where one applies it is that agreement, not the award, that governs the payslip. Some services also receive wage supplementation funding that is paid on top of the award rate, which is separate again and is not published here.
Every classification in this award, including the ones this page leaves out, is listed on the Children's Services Award Pay Rates page.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Children's Services Award 2010 (MA000120)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 1 July 2026
- Determinations
- PR810424, PR799280, PR799400, PR799555, PR811403
- Retrieved
- 6 September 2026
- Ordinary hours
- 38 a week
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and nothing on this page is copied from another pay site. Rates change from the first full pay period on or after the effective date, so a payslip covering the changeover can lawfully carry the older figure for part of the period.
What this page does not cover.
Listed as plainly as what it does, because a rate page that hides its gaps is how the wrong number ends up on a payslip.
Junior rates
This page publishes adult rates. Where an award sets a junior percentage of the adult rate, this site does not publish it, so do not read a figure here as the minimum for an employee under 21.
Penalty rates, overtime and allowances
Weekend, public holiday, overtime, broken shift and qualification-related payments are set separately in the award and are not in this table.
Assistant Director and Director
The two centre management classifications sit above the educator band and are published on the award page, along with the award’s second classification table.
Early childhood teachers
A degree-qualified teacher is covered by the Educational Services (Teachers) Award (MA000077), not this one, and that award is not published on this site yet.
Enterprise agreements
Many centre operators run registered agreements that displace the award rate. Wage supplementation funding paid on top of the award is separate again, and neither is published here.
Market or advertised pay
This page publishes the award floor only. It is not an average, a median, or what a given centre actually offers.
Early Childhood Educator Pay Rate questions, answered.
How much do early childhood teachers get paid in Australia?
Not from this award. A degree-qualified early childhood teacher is covered by the Educational Services (Teachers) Award (MA000077), which is a separate instrument with its own scale, and this site does not publish it yet. Every figure on this page comes from the Children's Services Award 2010 (MA000120), which covers educator classifications in children's services. If your role is a teaching role in a preschool, kindergarten or long day care centre, do not read a rate from this page as your minimum. Use the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool instead.
What is the highest paying job in early childhood?
Within this award the highest classification is Level 8—Director, at $46.12 an hour, or $1,752.70 a week for 38 ordinary hours. That is a centre management classification rather than an educator one, which is why it sits above the table on this page. It is also only the floor for that role, not what a director is actually paid. Early childhood teachers sit under a different award again, so the best paid job in the sector is not necessarily the top classification in this one.
Is it hard to be an Early Childhood Educator?
This page cannot answer that honestly, so it will not try. It publishes minimum rates read from the award text, and an award says nothing about workload, staff-to-child ratios or whether the job is worth doing. What the award does settle is the pay floor for each educator level, that ordinary hours are 38 a week, and that a casual is paid a 25 per cent loading in place of paid leave. Anything past that is not something this site has evidence for.
How much does a cert 3 in childcare get paid per hour?
The award does not name a certificate anywhere in its rate table. It pays by classification level, using its own titles, from Level 1—Introductory Educator at the bottom of the educator band to Level 6—Room Leader at the top. Which level a Certificate III holder is classified on is decided by the award's classification definitions, which this site has not published yet, so this page will not tell you that a Certificate III equals a particular level. The level the award itself calls Level 3—Qualified Educator is paid $32.47 an hour. If your payslip names a level, read the rate straight off the table above rather than working backwards from a qualification.
What is the casual rate for an early childhood educator?
Every casual figure on this page is worked out rather than quoted. This award publishes a minimum weekly rate for each classification and no schedule of hourly or casual rates, so a casual rate here is the minimum hourly rate plus the 25 per cent loading the award's casual clause requires. At Level 1—Introductory Educator that is $36.01 an hour, and at Level 6—Room Leader it is $47.81 an hour. All 12 casual rates in this award are derived on that basis. Penalty rates apply on top and are not included.
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