Free tool
Planning time calculator for Australian primary teachers
Every Australian state and territory sets primary planning time differently, and two of them do not publish a weekly figure at all. This works out what one teacher is actually owed, using the same entitlement model Bell Path uses to build real timetables.
Change the shape of your school and watch every jurisdiction move. The spread between the highest and lowest is wider than most people expect.
Go to the planning time calculator
This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is submitted, saved, or sent anywhere, and there is no signup.
Your school
Excluding recess and lunch.
Full time.
This teacher is owed
4h
per week of APT · about 4 sessions of 60 minutes
- Full-time entitlement
- 4h
- Weekly teaching load
- 25h
Derived from your teaching load
Victoria caps face-to-face teaching rather than publishing a weekly release figure, so the entitlement changes when your session times change. Adjust the sessions above and watch this number move.
Basis: Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022
Every state, your school’s shape
The same full-time entitlement calculated for each jurisdiction against the school you described above. The spread is wider than most people expect.
Scroll the table sideways to see how each entitlement is worked out.
| State | Called | Full time | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | DOTT | 4h 30m | Fixed weekly entitlement |
| South Australia | NIT | 4h 10m | Fixed weekly entitlement |
| Victoria | APT | 4h | Derived from teaching load |
| Tasmania | Planning time | 4h | Derived from teaching load |
| ACT | Release time | 4h | Fixed weekly entitlement |
| Northern Territory | NCT | 4h | Fixed weekly entitlement |
| Queensland | NCT | 2h 30m | Fixed weekly entitlement |
| New South Wales | RFF | 2h | Fixed weekly entitlement |
Figures come from the same entitlement model Bell Path uses to build timetables, based on each jurisdiction’s published agreement or workload guidance. Enterprise agreements are renegotiated, and your school’s own arrangements may differ. Treat this as a planning estimate and confirm against your current agreement.
How this works
What the numbers above are doing.
Two different systems
New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory publish a fixed weekly release entitlement. Victoria and Tasmania instead cap face-to-face teaching, so the entitlement is derived from how much your school actually teaches.
Proration is done properly
Part-time entitlement is calculated against the sessions a teacher genuinely works rather than a rounded day count, which is where small persistent shortfalls usually come from.
The Northern Territory moves
NT is the only jurisdiction where the entitlement steps up during the life of the agreement, so a timetable that met it last year may not meet it this year. The year selector reflects that.
Questions
Common follow-ups.
What is planning time called in my state?
Victoria calls it APT (additional planning time), New South Wales calls it RFF (release from face-to-face), Queensland and the Northern Territory use NCT (non-contact time), South Australia uses NIT (non-instruction time), and Western Australia uses DOTT (duties other than teaching). The ACT and Tasmania do not use a single widely-standardised acronym, so this calculator shows the entitlement rather than a label.
Why does the Victorian and Tasmanian figure change when I change the session length?
Because in those jurisdictions the entitlement is derived, not published. They cap face-to-face teaching rather than stating a weekly release figure, so the planning time a teacher receives is whatever falls out once that cap is respected against your actual teaching hours. Change your bell times and the entitlement moves. That is the single most common way a school ends up quietly short.
How is part-time planning time calculated?
Against the days and sessions the teacher actually works, not a rounded fraction of a week. A teacher on two and a half days receives the entitlement matching that pattern. Rounding to the nearest whole day is the usual source of a small, persistent shortfall that nobody notices until somebody counts.
Does this account for job-shares?
Run the calculator once for each half of the pair, with the days each person actually works. Two teachers sharing one class are two entitlements, not one, and treating them as a single full-time teacher is the most common modelling error we see in primary timetables.
Can I rely on this for an industrial conversation?
Treat it as a planning estimate. The figures come from the same model Bell Path uses to build real timetables, based on each jurisdiction’s published agreement or workload guidance, but enterprise agreements get renegotiated and your school may have its own arrangements. Confirm against your current agreement before relying on it in a formal setting.
Other free tools
Specialist coverage checker
Compare the planning time your school owes against the specialist sessions it can actually supply, before you build the timetable.
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Paste your term duty counts and see instantly who is carrying more than their share, and by how much.
Open toolIf the answer was not what you hoped
Bell Path runs this check on your real school.
Same calculation, against your actual staff, classes and specialist program, with the timetable built around the result and a check that runs before you publish.