Canberra teachers could be awarded a 12 per cent four year pay rise and 20 hours less work per year, with a new deal now on the table.

Director-General of the ACT’s Education and Training Directorate, Diane Joseph, says the pay rise would see over half the territory’s teaching workforce earning $100,000 or more by the end of the four-year agreement.

The deal includes additional pay for teachers who have achieved Highly Accomplished Teacher and Lead Teacher credentials.

Ms Joseph said the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement offer also calls for a minimum 20 hours per year workload reduction for every teacher in the ACT public system.

“Teachers report workload as a key issue in the workplace,” Ms Joseph said, “and this offer takes deliberate steps to reduce the administrative burden on teachers so they can focus on their core role with students”.

“With this offer the ACT Government has sent a clear signal that it has listened to and values its teachers.

“The Government is taking the initiative to clearly articulate its commitment to the core role of teachers - that is teaching students,” she said.

The offer reportedly contains new guidance on which tasks are expected of teachers, which ones require only limited teacher involvement, and which tasks require no teacher attention.

Ms Joseph said the guidelines would help reduce the amount of hours spent on unnecessary activities, so that teachers could better focus on their core role of teaching students.