The great majority of school principals and headteachers begin their careers in the classroom. Their teaching experience is vital in underpinning the professional decisions they need to make as leaders. However, in the journey from the classroom to the principal’s office, practitioners gradually reduce their teaching, for which they have been trained, and increase their leadership and management role, for which most have not been prepared. This leads to what Daresh and Male (2000) describe as ‘culture shock’