This paper reports from a study carried out by a University of Glasgow research team that was commissioned by the Scottish Executive (SE) on behalf of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) to study teachers' working time five years after the national agreement, A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century (SE, 2001a). A key principle in the agreement about teachers' conditions of service was the 35 hour working week. 'The Teachers's Agreement' (SE, 2001a) between the Scottish Executive, local employers and teacher unions was heralded as a watershed not only for the reform of the teaching profession but for the process of policy development and implementation in education in Scotland: it was "a turning point away from the division and conflict and towards constructive partnerships" (SE, 2001b). In the process of implementation there has been an emphasis on collegiality at all levels: between employers and teacher representatives; between management and teachers in schools, all of whom were to have a role in managing teachers' working time. Implicit in this is a reconstruction of the notion of 'professionalism'. Teacher policy is high on the political agenda in Scotland as it is in many developed countries as economic policy and social policy shapeeducational policy to produce both a highly skilled workforce and greater social cohesion. The drive to a more modern conception of the teaching profession with more flexible professional conditions can be seen as part of a global trend towards reconceptualising the teacher's role towards that of the 'extended professional', a role which recognizses their place in school and community culture (Ozga, 2005; Locke et al, 2005). Additionally, there is the question of the position of the teaching profession within post-devolution Scotland with the increasing emphasis on the separateness of Scottish educational policy. This paper reviews some of the issues emerging from this study in relation to the implementation of policy to reform the teaching profession in Scotland. This study is the largest and most complex study of its kind carried out in Scotland in recent years. The study has three elements: (1) an investigation of the local implementation of the policy through documentary analysis and interviews with local joint secretaries representing the teachers' and the employers respectively; (2) a national survey of time-use by teachers during 2005/06 using time use diaries; (3) and a contextual largely qualitative study of teachers' experiences of their working lives with data gathered through focus groups and interviews.One of the tensions is between ideals of collegiality and participative management and the sense of an increasing workload and innovation fatigue where teachers are expected to respond to a seemingly increasing range of national initiatives. Further, though the 35 hour working week was set up as a core principle, the data from the time use diaries and teacher interviews indicate that the 35 hour working week has not been met in reality. However, this is not simply a question of overload. The evidence points to another significant tension in efforts to reform the teaching profession. Although there was consensus that the 35 hour working week is not being met in reality, there was also consensus that within reason, the job may take more hours to fulfil to a professional standard. Overall, there remains a strong sense of teachers being professionals committed to working in ways that would best benefit their pupils. Policy to reform the teaching profession then has to recognise the importance of teachers' own conceptions of what it means to be a professional and the continued influence of an established traditional definition of teacher' professional identity.Locke, T., et al (2005) 'being a 'professional' primart school teacher at the beginning of the 21st century: a comparative analysis of primary teacher professioalism in new Zealand and England. Journal of Educational Policy 20(5):555-581. Menter, I et al. (2006) Teacher Working Time R esearch. Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. Ozga, J. (2005) 'Modernising the education workforce: a perspective from Scotland. Educational Review 57(2): 207-219. Scottish Executive (2001a) A Teaching profession for the 21st centurt: A greement reached following recommendations made in the McCrone Report, Edinburgh, Scottish Executive, from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/tp21a.pdf Scottish Executive (2001b) Press release: McConnell Sets Out Nest Steps for a modern Scottish Education System http://www.scotland.gov.uk/news/2001/02/se0366.asp