The schools, identified by inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education as being among the best in the country, have volunteered to share the secrets of their success.

BBC Education Correspondent Mike Baker on the function of beacon schools

Each will receive up to £50,000 to fund their role in the £1.8m pilot scheme, which is due to start in September.

Beacon schools will receive visitors from other schools which want to find out how to improve results, while teachers from beacon schools will visit others to pass on their skills.

Details of the successful educational strategies employed by the beacon schools are being published on the Internet by the Department for Education and Employment and those schools with their own Websites.

Andy Johnson of the National Union of Teachers: Not convinced

The School Standards Minister, Stephen Byers, said: "We want beacon schools to share the secrets of their success with other schools so that all can benefit."

This is a similar policy to that employed with the announcement last month of extra money for more specialist secondary schools in England - centres of excellence in particular fields such as sport or the arts.

Andy Johnson: "What is the incentive to share?"

"Beacon schools will be expected to work in partnership with other schools and other interested parties to pass on their particular area of expertise, such as numeracy, literacy, music and a whole host of other subjects," Mr Byers said.

"Whatever their particular strength, they will be encouraged to focus on that, share it and help raise standards."

Ministers deny that the policy is creating a new elite of schools, but teachers' unions warn that more social selection could result as beacon schools became over-subscribed.