William Bailey-Watson

Career as a Teacher

Will completed a BA in History from Birmingham and a MSc in Learning and Teaching from Oxford. After his PGCE, he taught History in two local schools in Reading. Will’s teaching was characterised by a passion for history, high expectations and aspirations, and a love of stories and innovative teaching approaches. Nothing gave Will greater fulfilment than working with young people. As a Head of History, Will took pleasure in redesigning the history curriculum, making it more diverse, more global and more inclusive. Under his leadership, the department saw increases in pupils opting for History and sustained improvements in exam results. Alongside teaching, Will was a Senior Examiner of two A Level exam papers.

Career at the IoE

In 2015, the University of Reading invited Will to teach on the History PGCE one day a week, while also working as Head of History and sitting on the school’s Senior Leadership Team. In 2017, Will became the Subject Leader of the History PGCE at the University of Reading’s IoE.

During his time at the IoE, Will has supported over 150 trainees to become history teachers. As of May 2025, more than fifty of these history teachers are currently working in Partnership schools. Over 25 of these are currently working in positions of leadership, such as Senior Leaders, Special Educational Need Co-Ordinators, or Heads of Department, Faculty, House or Year. Several have published articles, drawing explicitly upon their experiences and outcomes on their History PGCE.

Will has been actively involved in shaping the discourse around history teaching in England. Will set up the ‘meanwhile, elsewhere…’ website to help teachers diversify their curriculum content, curated the ‘Curricularium’ (an influential set of talks about history curriculum thinking), and wrote chapters in all three of the Changing Histories series of textbooks published by Hodder. Will has led a national Historical Association Teacher Fellowship and presented keynote talks and workshops all over the country. Will’s articles and resources have been cited as best practice by the DfE and Ofsted, and Will has been consulted on a range of national education policies.

Beyond being Subject Leader of the History PGCE, Will has been Programme Director of the Secondary PGCE since 2021, leading the programme to its exceptional Ofsted outcome in 2024. Will has also been Director of Recruitment and Admissions, Chair of the University Teaching Fellows Community of Practice, and seconded to the British Museum. Will currently sits on the University Senate.