In line with other public sector provision, the English school system has been subject to modernization since the advent of the New Labour government in 1997. This article views the reform of education in the light of the movement towards new public management and traces the process of the reform of workforce remodeling that has seen the shedding by teachers of non-essential tasks and their take-up by support staff. The reasons for the re-division of labor are examined, as are the tensions within the change management process. As instigators of reform at school-level, these developments placed Headteachers in a critical position. The core of the article, based on in-depth interviews with a number of Headteachers from a cluster of schools in a Midlands local authority, details Headteachers' reception and responses to both the substance of the reforms and the process. The article concludes that there was little enthusiasm for the changes that brought about unintended consequences and resentment about both the timescale for the required changes and what was felt to be non-recognition of the ability of Headteachers to manage change without detailed outside prescription.