Teresa Maiolo
Avenues College, SA
Kaurna
Teaching Fellow
Teresa Maiolo is a pioneering educator in the field of Deaf education, whose work is transforming literacy outcomes for some of the most underserved students in Australia.
As Director of the Centre of Deaf Education at Avenues College in Adelaide, Teresa has co-developed and led MorThemes — a morphology-based, multimodal literacy program specifically designed for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.
Built on a foundation of evidence-informed practice and accessible design, the program has produced remarkable results: 70% of students have made over six months’ growth in reading comprehension, with 45% progressing more than a year. Effect sizes across units have reached as high as 1.658 — well above the benchmark for high-impact teaching.
Under Teresa’s leadership, MorThemes has expanded beyond Avenues College to eight sites across South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand. She provides comprehensive professional development, mentoring, and implementation support to ensure consistency and effectiveness across all participating schools.
Teresa’s work is grounded in a deep commitment to equity and inclusion. As President of the Australian Association of Teachers of the Deaf (SA), she advocates for systemic change, builds professional learning communities and mentors educators in specialist pedagogy. Her collaborative, data-driven approach is creating lasting impact — shifting not only student outcomes, but also the professional culture of Deaf education in Australia.