Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Support (MYLNS) initiative

Role of MYLNS improvement teachers

Each year, schools must advise the department’s MYLNS Implementation Team of their nominated improvement teacher/s via the teacher nomination form.

MYLNS improvement teachers:

• identify Year 10 students to receive MYLNS support
• set, document, and monitor goals for prioritised MYLNS students
• implement evidence-based, high-impact teaching strategies to progress learning in literacy and/or numeracy
• regularly evaluate learning progress via formative assessments (further information on the tailored MYLNS initiative assessment tool can be found on the Resources tab).

Lessons learnt from MYLNS implementation so far show that effective improvement teachers demonstrate:

• a growth mindset
• curriculum and pedagogical knowledge to target students’ learning needs and differentiate teaching to support students at their point of need
• the ability to build positive learning relationships with students and colleagues.

Schools are allocated a minimum of 0.2 FTE for direct student support in literacy and 0.2 FTE for direct support in numeracy. This allocation increases based on the number of prioritised students.

Improvement teachers are required to be experienced classroom teachers. This role requires expert curriculum and pedagogical knowledge and should not be filled by less-experienced teachers or education support staff.

A school may choose to appoint their existing learning specialist, literacy leader or numeracy leader as their improvement teacher. Other schools will choose to allocate these roles to different staff members to build an integrated team approach and to champion literacy and numeracy improvement across their school.

If a learning specialist is appointed to the role, they will be required to manage their improvement teacher responsibilities (including by an increased focus on prioritised students) as well as their responsibilities as a learning specialist.

To ensure continuity for students and for the initiative, it is recommended that schools continue to keep the same improvement teacher for a minimum of 2 years (unless they do not meet the requirements of the role). Evidence shows that at least 2 years is necessary to have maximum impact in the role.