A paedophile teacher who abused more than 10 students and cost taxpayers millions in compensation now faces legal action by the Victorian government, which is seeking to recoup some of its costs.

The Age has confirmed the Education Department has launched a “recovery claim” to claw back some of the money that serial abuser Robert Leonard Morris has cost the state.

In 2016, 10 former students sued the Education Department for the abuse Morris perpetrated while working as a primary school teacher between 1966 and 1980.

Morris also taught international students in Sydney and China between 2001 and 2008 before he was arrested in Canberra in 2016.