Ten men abused as children by a paedophile teacher who was shuffled between primary schools for 14 years have been paid more than $7 million by the Victorian government.

Robert Leonard Morris, 72, started abusing boys the year he began teaching in 1966.

A mother reported him to the Education Department in 1967 but he continued teaching up until 1980 in Melbourne's east and country Victoria, despite further reports to police and principals.

He left dozens of victims in his wake. The youngest was six years old.

Ten of his victims, now aged in their 40s and 50s, were awarded compensation following civil action in which the government accepted it was legally responsible for Morris' crimes.

The settlements for Morris' crimes significantly exceed what the Catholic Church has paid-out. Victims received an average $46,000 under the Melbourne Response and a $270,000 average settlement for those who tried to sue, according to a 2015 Age analysis.

Two survivors of Morris' abuse received between $1.5 and almost $2 million; thought to be record figures in Victorian sex abuse claims.

"He deserves to rot," one of those two men told Fairfax Media.

"It wasn't easy to sue the Education Department, but there have to be consequences for putting a known paedophile in a classroom of little kids."

"I'm proud of standing up for myself and for other survivors. I'm glad I did it and I urge other survivors, if they can, to do the same – talk to police, talk to the lawyers. Make sure this never happens again."

A Department spokesman said it was a tragic case with a heartbreaking impact. 

"We apologise unreservedly for failing to protect the victims of this teacher when they were students in the 1970s," he said.

Rightside Legal's Michael Magazanik, who represented the 10 men and another three who have sued, said the Education Department could have stopped it at the beginning.

In 1967 a mother reported Morris to the Education Department for abusing her son, he was reported to at least two principals in the 1970s and, damningly, he was allowed to return to the same school in Ringwood in 1979 despite being charged and acquitted of abusing six boys.

It's understood one principal put him in a classroom opposite his office to keep an eye on him. But still he continued to assault students, Mr Magazanik said.

Much of the abuse was public; in classrooms, on crowded school buses, at school camps and in playgrounds.

Jailed last year for at least four years, the County Court heard in one instance, Morris made a seven-year-old boy sit on his lap in front of his class and masturbated him from behind a book.

One of the boys, the court heard, now suffers from a debilitating compulsion to wash himself over and over.

The civil claims for Morris' abuse were settled before trial, except for one victim, for whom the compensation amount was contested. Government lawyers argued the man, who was able to work full-time, suffered mild anxiety that did not prevent him for leading a secure life.

Justice Rita Zammit awarded the 51-year-old $717,000 in damages, future losses and medical costs in the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Friday.

Justice Zammit said the abuse - which he experienced weekly through his grade 4 year at a Ringwood school - insidiously affected all aspects of his life.

"The abuse was prolonged, gross and public and it had a profoundly damaging effect," Justice Zammit said.

It is believed the government is considering counter-suing Morris to recover some of the pay-out. Police are also understood to be investigating claims from further victims.

Morris was jailed last year for a maximum six years, with a minimum of four behind bars, for abusing six boys at two schools in Cranbourne and Ringwood. He lost an appeal against his sentence in December.

Morris, who was a Cub leader in Melbourne's east, left teaching in 1980 after he pleaded guilty to the indecent assault of a student.

He went on to teach international students in Sydney and China from 2001 to 2008 before his arrest in Canberra last year.

The Education Department spokesman said the way schools identify and respond to suspected child abuse has been overhauled.