HEAD teachers from across the country will be in York this weekend for the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) annual conference.

The three-day event will be taking place at the Barbican from tomorrow until Monday.

The NAHT represents more than 30,000 school leaders including heads from all specialist schools, primary schools and secondary schools.

The opening ceremony of the event will include a welcome from the Lord Mayor of York, Coun David Horton.

On day two, the parliamentary under secretary of state for schools, Stephen Twigg, will speak alongside the commissioner for London schools, Professor Tim Brighouse.

On Sunday, Professor John West Burnham, the director of professional research and development will address the conference followed by the general secretary of the NAHT, David Hart.

A number of key debates will range from funding and workload to secondary and primary curriculum issues.

Top of the agenda on the first day will be the highly topical issue of funding within education.

The City of York Council is facing a £1.9 million gap in the education budget which could see primary schools losing out on up to £5,000 and secondary schools losing up to £15,000.

The council had expected a six per cent increase in funding from the Government, but will only receive 4.3 per cent which has caused the shortfall.

The NAHT will be publishing the results of a funding survey and making statements about the Government funding promises for the next two years.

It will also be responding to any statements from the secretary of state following the local government elections.

Other debates will include the abolition of performance tables and the abandoning of Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 tests.

Discussion will also concentrate on the primary school curriculum, the six-term year, bureaucracy within education, pupil behaviour, home school transport, special education needs and small schools.

Updated: 08:28 Friday, May 02, 2003