The pilots will begin in September and the Department for Education and Skills has given each council £72,000 for the first year of the two-year scheme. The virtual head will be a senior member of staff who will be responsible for raising the educational achievement of looked-after children.

The virtual head will be a former head teacher or a seconded secondary school teacher with experience of supporting vulnerable children. Catherine Halsall, head of the education of looked-after children at Warwickshire County Council, one of the 11 pilots, said: "We are hoping to improve the system in supporting looked-after children and to make sure we co-ordinate and enhance the work that is already being done."

Other pilots will take place in Bournemouth, Cambridgeshire, Dudley, Gateshead, Greenwich, Merton, Norfolk, Salford, Stockport and Walsall.