Six-figure salaries that would make Canberra's teachers among the best paid in Australia could attract and retain more high-quality recruits to the territory, a leading education expert says.
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Australian Education Union ACT members voted to accept the territory government's third wage offer and end more than a year of tense negotiations at a meeting on Thursday night.
The deal, agreed to on behalf of the union's 3000 members, also gave teachers a 12.6 per cent pay rise over four years, which was worth $159 million.
By the end of the four-year agreement classroom teachers will earn more than $100,000 each year, meaning ACT teachers will have the third highest salaries in the country behind only Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Teachers' wages grew by 48 per cent in the decade to 2013, or 17 per cent above inflation, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures revealed.
That was among the fastest growth of any Australian industry wages and behind only mining, construction, electricity and the public service.
However, when stretched over the past 20 years full-time earnings for teachers had increased only moderately and fell behind wage growth for the retail sector, manufacturing, health care and financial services industry.
AEU ACT secretary Glenn Fowler said the boost would remove salary as an impediment for anyone who wanted to teach in the territory, or who was considering switching from another profession.
He said the wage deal was "a good outcome", even though it was at the low end for professionals in the current economic climate.
"Our salaries are not high, they're below average by OECD standards. Our class sizes are bigger by OECD standards. We're getting good value out of our teachers," Mr Fowler said.
"I don't think anyone begrudges the salaries teachers get given the work we do."
Mr Fowler said the ACT's teachers went from being the worst paid in the country to the third best paid after a campaign over wage negotiations in 2011.
"We wanted to retain that, we wanted national competitiveness. This deal puts us marginally ahead of NSW and Victoria by the end of this agreement," he said.
She was optimistic it would also work to draw and retain the best quality teachers.
" she said.
