Case study: Making great teaching visible at Eden Boys' Leadership Academy

Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Birmingham East, is an all boys' faith school serving a community facing significant disadvantage. Leaders are acutely aware of the difference high-quality teaching can make to pupils' opportunities and outcomes.

That belief has shaped a professional development (PD) culture built around continuous improvement, open classrooms and teachers learning from one another.

Eden Boys' was an early adopter of Steplab, piloting the platform before it was introduced more widely across the trust. One of the school's earliest priorities was to make classroom visits feel developmental rather than judgemental, using regular drop-ins and rapid feedback to build a genuinely open-door culture.

Over time, that approach has developed to include instructional coaching, peer drop-ins, practice clinics and video exemplification - all closely connected to the school's shared teaching priorities.

For leaders at Eden Boys', frequent classroom visits are not an event. They are part of everyday professional learning.

Peer drop-ins were introduced early in the school's Steplab journey, giving teachers opportunities to see colleagues in action and learn from practice across the school. The aim was not simply to increase the number of observations, but to build a culture where feedback, reflection and classroom visits felt normal and supportive.

That foundation has proved essential as the school has expanded its use of video.

Mercedes explains that filming strong practice works because teachers already feel comfortable opening their classrooms to colleagues.

“Once you've got your open-door policy where staff welcome the drop-in culture, filming is quite easy to do on top of that.”

For schools at an earlier stage, her advice is to start small. Leaders might invite teachers to submit examples they feel confident sharing, gradually building familiarity and trust before making video a more regular part of professional development.

Steplab gives teachers access to model videos aligned with evidence-informed teaching steps. At Eden Boys', leaders have built on this by capturing examples from their own classrooms too.

That local context matters.

“When teachers see it's our own boys, with a teacher having success with that technique, it's really powerful.”

Teachers can see familiar pupils, routines and teaching language, making it easier to focus on the specific practice being modelled rather than being distracted by differences in context.

Mercedes describes this in terms of cognitive load. When a model uses unfamiliar routines or classroom language, teachers can become focused on those differences rather than the success criteria they are meant to notice. Locally created examples strip some of that away.

They also make it easier to demonstrate how the same teaching technique can look different across subjects.

Assertive monitoring in mathematics, for example, may look very different from assertive monitoring in an essay-based subject. By capturing examples across departments, teachers can see how shared principles translate into their own disciplinary context.

Video at Eden Boys' is not used in isolation. It forms part of a wider professional development cycle.

Leaders plan around upcoming teaching priorities and actively look for strong examples during classroom drop-ins. Mercedes describes this as “treasure hunting” - knowing what the school will be working on next and identifying examples that could help bring that practice to life.

The academy runs two practice clinics each week. The first introduces the weekly goal, success criteria and initial practice. Leaders then gather evidence from classrooms before the second session, where teachers refine and rehearse their practice.

Strong examples captured during those first few days can be brought directly into the next clinic, allowing staff to analyse how a colleague has applied the same goal successfully with Eden Boys' pupils.

This creates a close connection between PD, classroom practice and feedback. Teachers are not simply hearing about what good practice should look like - they can see it happening in their own school.

An equally important part of the approach is how video is framed.

At Eden Boys', filming is used to capture strong practice and celebrate progress. When teachers see a camera appear, it signals that something worth sharing has been spotted.

Mercedes has found this particularly valuable for trainees and early-career teachers, whose developing expertise can be recognised and shared with colleagues.

“It's like an acknowledgement. It's really powerful for the celebratory culture - celebrating the win, celebrating the progress and sustaining that desire for continuous improvement.”

That celebratory approach helps reinforce the message that professional development is about getting better together, not catching people out.

Frequent drop-ins and peer observation have become so embedded that pupils themselves are accustomed to adults visiting classrooms and watching teaching.

The academy's use of video now extends beyond classroom exemplification.

Faculties use it to record practice clinics, while coaching conversations can also be captured and shared when leaders are unable to observe them live. This gives coaches and leaders another way to reflect on practice and receive feedback.

The school has also created videos demonstrating wider routines, including lesson starts and finishes, duties and expectations around the school.

That makes the video library particularly useful for induction. Rather than assuming a new colleague automatically knows what a routine should look like, leaders can show a clear, concrete example.

Eden Boys' Leadership Academy's commitment to high-quality professional development, open classrooms and sharing effective practice has led to the academy being awarded Steplab Hub School status.

As part of the Hub School network, Eden Boys' now opens its doors to other school leaders who want to see effective professional development in practice.

Visitors can explore how the academy brings together instructional coaching, regular drop-ins, practice clinics, shared teaching priorities and video exemplification to create a culture of continuous improvement.

For Mercedes, the principle behind the approach is simple:

“Exemplification is so important in teaching and learning - having really clear, concrete examples.”

At Eden Boys', those examples are rooted in the reality of the school's own classrooms - helping teachers see great practice, learn from colleagues and keep improving together.

Eden Boys' Leadership Academy is part of Steplab's Hub School network.

Visit the academy to see how its leaders and teachers are embedding instructional coaching, open classrooms, practice clinics and evidence-informed professional development in practice.