3L: Language & Literacy for Learning

Who Is This Program For?

Designed for whole-school impact, the 3L: Language and Literacy for Learning professional development program supports teachers and schools to develop a shared, consistent, and explicit approach to literacy that strengthens teaching practice and improves learning outcomes for all students across all disciplines. 3L places language and literacy at the heart of learning—in every classroom, in every subject, and for every student. The 3L Teacher Course is ideal for teachers committed to sustainable, whole-school literacy improvement. Eligible for ELA-SD funding. 

It is particularly suited to teachers who:

• Teach students aged between 8 and 18 years
• Want to better understand how language impacts learning across all subject areas, not just English
• Are seeking to advance their professional practice and career, including teachers

Why 3L?

Outcomes

Built on the principle that language is deeply implicated in learning in all subjects, 3L benefits all students. 3L transforms teacher practice and raises student achievement in diverse school settings.

The 3L Builds on the Science of Reading

The 3L training strengthens the Language Comprehension strands of the Reading Rope by focusing on how language works in complex texts. 3L provides a clear, research-based framework for explicitly teaching language across all content areas. Through a shared metalanguage approach, educators develop students’ background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, and reasoning—key elements for comprehending and engaging with academic texts.

What Will Teachers Gain?

In 3L, teachers will develop a deeper understanding of:

• The ways in which language underpins all learning, in all content areas
• How literacy is a capacity for making meaning across the whole curriculum

Teachers will also learn to:

• Design and implement teaching practices that explicitly address students’ language and learning needs in all content areas
• Build students’ language and visual resources so they can access, engage with, and demonstrate learning across the curriculum
• Use positive strategies for self-reflection to strengthen their professional practice
• Develop collaborative working relationships with other teachers across subject areas
• Share learning and leadership by supporting language-informed teaching practices across the whole school

By the end of the course, teachers will be able to:

• Confidently identify the language demands of their subjects
• Plan and teach lessons that improve learning for all students
• Support students to use language and visuals effectively to show what they know
• Work collaboratively with colleagues to strengthen whole-school approaches to literacy