Headship in England was radically altered in nature in 1988 by the Education Reform Act which introduced the principle of local management of schools. Despite this legislative intervention, however, the model of headship in England remained virtually unchanged, rather it was headteacher behaviour that changed. The maintained school system is still based on the principle that each school has its own identity and serves a community which is usually geographically defined. The role of headteacher had evolved since the inception of a compulsory education system for the nation's children in the latter stages of the nineteenth century that was posited on the notion that not only should there be a formal head of the school, but also that person should be both responsible for and directly involved in the teaching and student learning taking place within. In this article, the author discusses the potential revolution of the nature of schooling and the model of headship. He highlights four factors that threaten to fundamentally change the model of headship in the future. These are: (1) headteacher shortage; (2) headteacher qualification; (3) federations; and (4) a widening remit for schools.