With reference to Bernstein's theories concerning the pulls and tensions of competing pedagogic identities, this article draws on original research to suggest that a culture of pragmatism may be currently rooting itself in English schools. This culture is understood partly as an instrumental response to rapid and extensive educational reform, and partly as the internalization of a wider discourse of pragmatism in which pragmatism itself is conceived of as a virtue and takes on ideological significance. In addition to identifying a problematic relationship between the instrumental-pragmatic responses of head teachers and those of classroom teachers, the article considers the potential of "ideological pragmatism" to act as a hidden context within which instrumental pragmatism may lead to the lasting demotion of teachers' and head teachers' core pedagogic values.