The Schools Secretary is asking the School Teachers Pay Review Body (STRB), which sets teachers' pay, to consider pay rises, bonuses and consultancy fees for the "superheads".

The incentives could see private-sector style pay and leadership introduced to state schools where heads have taken on the management of "federations" of two or more schools.

Mr Balls said: "In the private sector, when you identify the best leadership, you put that leadership to work. We want to make sure the pay is there in schools in order that (heads) have got incentives.

"If you are a headteacher of a school of 1,500 pupils, plus staff, that's a huge responsibility. If you ware excellent at doing that we want to, where possible and practical, reward you for taking on the extra responsibility of doing that in more than one school."

It is reported that top heads taking on extra roles could see their pay double to as much as £200,000 per year.

A spokeswoman for the the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "If you have a head running his own school and providing leadership in other schools, overseeing junior heads at two or three schools, we need to reflect that in pay.

"Mr Balls wants excellence for all in schools and he wants schools to be creative about how that is achieved."

There are currently 120 headteachers in the National Leaders in Education scheme, who are funded to partner up with other schools, providing additional expertise and leadership.

Last month, Mr Balls announced the expansion of the programme to 500 over the next five years "with the best helping the rest", including the 638 schools across the country which have been identified as in particular need of help.