The purpose of this thesis is to gain new insights into the professionalidentities of the primary head teacher in England today. The specific focus isupon understanding the intersection between personal, professional andpolicy factors that shape identities. This exploration takes place against thebackground of two policy documents, namely Children and Their PrimarySchool: a report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (the PlowdenReport) of 1967 and Children/ their World/ their Education Final Report andRecommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review of 2009. The thesisconsiders the wider literature on the construction of identities from asociological perspective and also focuses upon the smaller body of literaturethat addresses the question of what it means to identify oneself as a primaryhead teacher.This study has developed from real questions that have arisen from mypersonal experience of working as a primary head teacher and therefore hasled me to look for a method that will enable me to make sense of myexperience, will assist me to encourage other professionals to reflect upontheir lives and practice, and will ultimately be able to glimpse new ways ofunderstanding how the identities of the head teacher might beconceptualised. This thesis has sought to encompass the holistic nature ofprimary education. The study is placed within the theoretical framework ofsocial constructionism and the use of both biographical research methods andauto-ethnography.The thesis sets out the current reality of the identities of the primary headteacher. The implications of that reality are identified as a basis for therecommendations for action. This study provides professional significance forboth the researcher and for those working within the context of primaryeducation.