The idea that education should value imagination has lost currency over the last few decades and this has implications for teachers as well as pupils. Situated in a system of increased accountability, teachers in England are arguably less able than ever to act on their freedom and to imagine curricular and pedagogical possibilities beyond those specified by performance measurement frameworks. For writing teachers, this presents particular challenges as policy documents offer little recognition of the complex processes involved. As a result, this paper argues that it is time to reconsider the value of imagination in education and in the teaching of writing.