This article describes the Economic and Social Research Council-based research project. This project examines the ways in which Lyotard’s performative practices affect the identities of primary school learners and how they are constructed by Key Stage exam process. This project also examines performative progression through a system of learning targets. The project uses a Foucauldian approach to show how learners are influenced by performativity discourses and how they take part in constructing these performative identities.