A Post Level 1 educator is a classroom teacher, and your 2026 pay is set by three things: the starting notch your qualification places you on, the 1.5% step you can earn each year, and the 4% across-the-board adjustment that landed on 1 April 2026. Get those three right and you can read your own payslip without guessing.
TL;DR: A PL1 (classroom) educator starts on the bottom notch of the Post Level 1 band, with your exact starting notch set by your REQV — REQV14 (a four-year qualification) starts higher than REQV13 (a three-year qualification). You move up one notch a year through 1.5% pay progression if your performance is satisfactory, and every notch rose by 4% from 1 April 2026 under PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2025.
What does "PL1" mean?
PL1 stands for Post Level 1. It is the post level for a classroom educator — the teacher in front of the learners, as opposed to a Head of Department (PL2), Deputy Principal (PL3) or Principal (PL4). Post levels are set out in the Employment of Educators Act and the Personnel Administrative Measures (PAM) that sit under it (Employment of Educators Act 76 of 1998, 1998).
Most teachers spend their whole career on PL1. That is by design. The educator salary structure was built with long, overlapping bands so that a teacher who stays in the classroom can keep earning more without having to take a management post.
PL1 is paid on the OSD, not the plain public-service scale
Educators are paid under an Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) — a salary scale built for the job, separate from the generic public-service levels 1 to 12. The OSD is what defines the PL1 notch band and the rules for moving through it. When you read a circular that says "salary levels 1 to 12 and those covered by Occupation Specific Dispensations (OSDs)", the OSD part is you (DPSA — Minister announces 4% wage increase for public servants, 2026).
Where do PL1 teachers start? REQV13 vs REQV14
Your starting notch on the PL1 band is set by your REQV — your Relative Education Qualification Value. REQV is a number the system gives your qualification.
- REQV13 is a three-year qualification (M+3) — for example, a recognised three-year diploma or degree. REQV13 is also the minimum qualification to register as a teacher with SACE (SACE — Registration criteria and procedures, 2026).
- REQV14 is a four-year qualification (M+4) — for example, a four-year Bachelor of Education, or a three-year degree plus a PGCE. This is the standard entry qualification for new teachers today.
A REQV14 teacher starts on a higher notch than a REQV13 teacher doing the same job. The gap is built in to reward the extra year of study. If you upgrade your REQV later — say from 13 to 14, or 14 to 15 — your notch is re-evaluated upward, which is one of the few ways to earn a real-terms raise above the annual adjustment.
What does a PL1 teacher actually earn?
NAPTOSA Western Cape publishes the current 2026 educator pay scales for members. As at June 2026, the PL1 entry notch for a standard REQV14 teacher sits in the region of R262,000 a year before the April uplift, with the PL1 band running up through the low-to-mid R500,000s at the top of scale (NAPTOSA WC — Teacher Salary Scales 2026, 2026). REQV13 starts lower; a higher REQV such as REQV15 starts higher again.
For the exact rand value of your own notch, work from the official table rather than an estimate. The notch amounts are gazetted by the Department of Basic Education and published by the DPSA, and they are what your payroll uses (Government Gazette — DBE educator salary structures, 2025). Your exact figure depends on your post level, your REQV and how many notches of progression you have already earned.
Citation capsule.: A South African Post Level 1 (classroom) educator's starting salary is set by REQV — REQV13 (a three-year M+3 qualification, the SACE registration minimum) starts on a lower notch than REQV14 (a four-year M+4 qualification, the standard entry level) — with all PL1 notches raised 4% from 1 April 2026 under PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2025 (DPSA, 2026).
How the notch system works
A post level is not a single salary. It is a band of notches, each one a fixed rand amount, stacked from the bottom of the band to the top. When you are appointed you land on a starting notch. From there, two different things move you up — and it helps to keep them separate.
Notch movement 1: pay progression (1.5% a year)
Pay progression is the step you earn for time served and satisfactory performance. For OSD educators the progression rate is 1.5%, processed for the annual performance cycle (DPSA — Incentive Policy Framework for Employees in the Public Service, 2019). In plain terms: do the job and get a satisfactory rating, and you move up one notch — about 1.5% — once a year.
Pay progression is not automatic. It depends on actual service on your notch for the qualifying period and on your performance rating. The pay-progression cycle runs against the annual performance year and is paid with effect from 1 July. For the 2025/26 performance cycle, qualifying educators receive their progression from 1 July 2026 (DPSA — Minister announces 4% wage increase for public servants, 2026).
Notch movement 2: the annual cost-of-living adjustment
The cost-of-living adjustment is the across-the-board increase that lifts every notch in the table at once. It is set by the bargaining council, not by your performance. For 2026 that adjustment was 4%, effective 1 April 2026 (see the next section).
The two move you up in different ways. Pay progression moves you to the next notch. The cost-of-living adjustment lifts the whole table, so your current notch is worth more rand. In a good year you get both — a higher notch and a higher value for that notch.
The 2026 adjustment: a 4% increase from 1 April
For the 2026/27 financial year, public servants — educators included — received a 4% cost-of-living adjustment effective 1 April 2026. The Minister for the Public Service and Administration announced it on 24 April 2026, and it gives effect to PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2025, the three-year wage agreement (DPSA — Minister announces 4% wage increase for public servants, 2026).
The 4% applies to "employees on salary levels 1 to 12 and those covered by Occupation Specific Dispensations (OSDs)" — which includes every PL1 educator. It is a pensionable increase, so the higher salary also raises the salary your GEPF pension is calculated on (DPSA — The Public Servant Online, 2026).
Why exactly 4%?
PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2025 set the 2026/27 and 2027/28 adjustments to track the Consumer Price Index, but with a floor and a ceiling. National Treasury projected CPI for 2026/27 at around 3.4%, below the 4% floor — so the agreement's floor mechanism lifted the figure to 4% (DPSA — Minister announces 4% wage increase for public servants, 2026). The floor is the part that protected teachers this year: without it, the increase would have been lower.
Putting it together: a PL1 teacher's 2026 in order
Here is the order things happen in for a typical PL1 educator in 2026:
- 1 April 2026 — every notch in the PL1 band rises by 4%. Your current notch is now worth more.
- 1 July 2026 — if you earned a satisfactory performance rating for the 2025/26 cycle and served the qualifying period, you move up one notch through 1.5% pay progression.
So a teacher who qualifies for both gets a 4% lift on the table in April and a roughly 1.5% notch step in July. A teacher who does not qualify for progression still gets the 4%. Neither step is "extra pay" you have to apply for — but if your July payslip does not show the notch move you expected, that is worth querying.
What it does not change
The 4% adjustment did not re-open the OSD, change the notch structure, or alter the gap between REQV levels. The shape of the PL1 band is the same as 2025; every rand figure on it simply moved up. The Personnel Administrative Measures and the post-level structure are unchanged (Employment of Educators Act 76 of 1998, 1998).
FAQ
What is the starting salary for a PL1 teacher in 2026?
It depends on your REQV. A REQV14 (four-year qualification) teacher starts on a higher notch than a REQV13 (three-year qualification) teacher. As at June 2026 the REQV14 entry notch sits in the region of R262,000 a year before progression, but check the official DBE/DPSA table for your exact figure (NAPTOSA WC — Teacher Salary Scales 2026, 2026).
What is the difference between REQV13 and REQV14?
REQV13 is a three-year qualification (M+3) and is the minimum to register with SACE. REQV14 is a four-year qualification (M+4), such as a four-year B.Ed or a degree plus PGCE, and is the standard entry level today. REQV14 starts on a higher notch than REQV13 (SACE — Registration criteria and procedures, 2026).
How much is pay progression for educators?
Pay progression for OSD educators is 1.5%, awarded once a year for the annual performance cycle if your performance rating is satisfactory and you have served the qualifying period. It is paid with effect from 1 July (DPSA — Incentive Policy Framework, 2019).
How much did teacher salaries go up in 2026?
Educators received a 4% cost-of-living adjustment from 1 April 2026, under PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2025. It is a pensionable increase and applies to all PL1 educators (DPSA — Minister announces 4% wage increase for public servants, 2026).
Can I move up the PL1 band without becoming an HoD?
Yes. The PL1 band is long and overlaps with PL2, so a classroom teacher can keep earning more through annual pay progression and through upgrading their REQV, without taking a management post. That overlap is deliberate, to keep good teachers in the classroom (Employment of Educators Act 76 of 1998, 1998).
Need help with this? NAPTOSA members can get advice and representation. Contact the Western Cape office or join NAPTOSA.