Will Bailey-Watson
willbaileywatson.bsky.social
Will Bailey-Watson
@willbaileywatson.bsky.social
History teaching. Initial teacher education. meanwhile, elsewhere..., Changing Histories textbooks.
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Brilliant to see this continuing to get coverage and hopefully momentum will continue to real change. Exciting also to see the brilliant @willbaileywatson.bsky.social's amazing Meanwhile Elsewhere being used - it absolutely revolutionized History homework for me.

www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
Why are women missing from school history?
The extent to which history lessons ignore female figures has been revealed by new research. Here, teachers share the changes they are making to address this gender imbalance
www.tes.com
October 3, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
An honour to finally be able to stand up and launch The Practical Guide to Teaching History to the history teaching community at #SHP25! Thank you to @joshpreyegarry.bsky.social and @mrmayhew.bsky.social Thank you to Matt Stanford and @corinnegoullee.bsky.social for getting us to this place
July 12, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Well this is an exciting day. First time out for these beauties
June 27, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
And here it is. Finally. Surrounded by some of the scholarship that shaped it. It’s beautiful and such fun to teach - it has given my Year 8 class stories to live inside. A parent messaged me to say history has ‘never been so fun!’ - all I did was tell the class stories from this book.
June 23, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
I decided to spend some time with Year 9 reflecting on our curriculum this year. I used this diagram to reflect on the fact that, despite my best efforts, we learn relatively little history.
June 24, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Eight enquiries, eight meanwhile elsewhere lessons, a little over 40,000 words of stories read, 44 cracking outcome tasks on display and one Year 9 curriculum. It's been a joy! #historyteacher
June 19, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
It's arrived! It's absolutely stunning. Can't wait to get stuck in.
June 19, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Couldn't have hoped for better company than these guys to celebrate PUBLICATION DAY! of our Year 8 #ChangingHistoriesKS3
And mega thanks to YOU, Will. Only the finest publisher could understand what it takes to define a new gold standard in textbooks & to support my brilliant team for 4 long years 👏
In this photo are my two babies....and Rupert and Henry 😂 We're thrilled to announce that Changing Histories: Expanding Worlds c1600-c1870 is now out! Thank you to all the incredible people involved in this project and to everyone who's already ordered a copy/class set! You have impeccable taste. X
June 13, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
In this photo are my two babies....and Rupert and Henry 😂 We're thrilled to announce that Changing Histories: Expanding Worlds c1600-c1870 is now out! Thank you to all the incredible people involved in this project and to everyone who's already ordered a copy/class set! You have impeccable taste. X
June 13, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
We’ve gone to press for #ChangingHistoriesKS3 Expanding Worlds! It’ll be hitting our warehouse on 13 June so do get your orders in! In my 10+ years of history publishing, I honestly think this is one of the best books we’ve produced. Spell-binding narrative, stunning visuals and super accessible.
May 14, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
One of the best to write about curriculum design @willbaileywatson.bsky.social talks about the gardener, the wrestler, the architect and the explorer. An informative romp through the last 25 years of curricular thinking in history teaching.
April 9, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Today is publication day for a Practical Guide to Teaching History in the Secondary School. 19 years after the first edition, this is a complete re-write by so many wonderful experts in the history teaching community. Thanks to @terryhaydn.bsky.social for offering the opportunity 5 years ago!
April 9, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
#ChangingHistoriesKS3 - Changing the world of history textbooks for 11-14 year olds. With Book 1 Connected Worlds, we set a high bar for immersive story telling accompanied by beautiful looking pages. With Book 2 Expanding Worlds we're taking it to the next level. Samples coming soon!
March 24, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
#Historyteacher HoDs - a we get to the ‘use it or lose it’ stage of the department budget, I’ve just spent the spare bit I have on these- mainly pre-ordering book 2, which is very exciting

Money where my mouth is.

More info and free sample here: www.hachettelearning.com/history/chan...
February 21, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Hugh draws on stories written by the #ChangingHistoriesKS3 team which includes talented history authors from across England, including @willbaileywatson.bsky.social @hannahcusworth.bsky.social @apf102.bsky.social @jacobolivey.bsky.social & many others who know how to make stories work in classrooms.
February 5, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Changing Histories really is a game changer in history textbook design. Proper prose, narrative-driven, with tasks that then unpack the narrative. Far more intellectually rigorous than most textbooks which are (not always) nicely illustrated information sheets.
Year 7 today, started Mansa Musa and Mali. One genuinely asked “I don’t mean to be racist but I thought black people were slaves back then?”

An hour with the opening story from the #changinghistoriesKS3 enquiry changed his view! Just look at this writing 👀
December 13, 2024 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Finally got a copy! This book is so unbelievably awesome and beautiful! I would tag but don't want to leave anyone out.

A joy to read and so human. That's the difference, those tiny stories like Zoe standing on the walls in the evening or Martin Luther praying at night. Outstanding!
#historyteacher
November 28, 2024 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Will Bailey-Watson
Have had a long social media hiatus…
Breaking cover - what have history been doing at Bolder?
We’ve been massively enjoying (& so have year 7) using the new @counsellc.bsky.social et. al. textbook.
Great stories, lovely illustrations, beautifully simplistic focus prog. in concepts. Cracking!
November 21, 2024 at 9:26 PM