ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the significance of headship defining career move. Headship is not for everyone and that it is possible to build a rewarding career in teaching that sustains one throughout your working life without necessarily having to aspire to school leadership. Either way, people want to pass on our experience of Headship in Primary Schools, not so much as an example of how to do it, but as a means of encouraging you to develop a realistic impression of what is involved in it. There is a whole literature on the subject of management styles and leadership. How you style yourself will largely depend on your approach in earlier management posts. In our view, the best expressions of professionalism in Headship accommodate both personae the authoritative, reassuring presence as Head and the free adult with a private life away from the gaze of the school community.
