This research is a narrative analysis based on an investigation into the professional lives of heads of English Departments (HODs) in three New Zealand secondary schools. The main data collection methods of interviews and observations used in this study fall within an interpretive paradigm. While HODs play a pivotal role in secondary schools, their inability to engage in not only effective curriculum and pedagogical leadership, but also effective classroom teaching is seriously constrained. These constraints have occurred partly as a result of the accumulating effects of over a decade of continual educational reforms, which have occurred without changes in staffing rations to accommodate intensified workloads. The consequences of the reforms on the work of these HODs have been largely ignored, and as a result, teaching and learning have been compromised. Emotions and relationships, coupled with the effects of time constraints and complexity, are highlighted as major concerns and significant hindrances to the three HODs' work. In order to demonstrate the impact of such effects, a fictionalized story exposes some of the human costs to HODs' professional lives. Essentially, the circumstances in which the three participant English HODs work may be symptomatic of an educational crisis that requires urgent attention, particularly in relation to the amount of time available for HODs to carry out their leadership roles. Contains a figure, 8 notes, and 185 references. Appendixes contain an interview outline; an introductory letter; an informed consent letter and a letter for the return of transcripts; a summary of HOD observations; an analysis of advertised vacancies; and an open letter to the management team of a high school. (Author/PM)