This article considers some of the findings of research undertaken for a PhD into the changing educational agenda and its impact on the role of primary headteachers in England. During the course of the study from 2005-2009, as a result of government policy new roles for headteachers both inside and outside their school increasingly emerged. The research discusses the perceptions of headteachers regarding the reasons for system change and considers their motivations for undertaking new roles. Findings include the range and type of new roles undertaken; the impact of performativity and ways in which the relationship some headteachers experience with inspection is symbiotic together with how building capacity to sustain new roles impacts on leadership practice. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)