Mr Brown also promised to make "major announcements" on the government's City Academies programme in his Budget this Wednesday.
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And he pledged to champion "greater diversity" in education, adding he "applauded" city academies and wanted to make it easier to expand them.
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Mr Blunkett has announced the first three city academies, but two of these are in London, and only one in the provinces, in Liverpool.
Diversifying comprehensive education by introducing city academies is one promising idea.
Alan Johnson, the front runner, is campaigning on a platform of more union power, an end to successful private equity and a limit on the number of new city academies.
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Other issues she will have to deal with include the implementation of the teachers' workload agreement for England and Wales, the growth of specialist schools and city academies, plans for optional extended school hours - and the government's repeated failure to meet its targets for England's test and exam performance.
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Ms Looker said head teachers at all other secondary schools across York, including the city's two academies, had pledged to work with the college to support students and staff.
In deciding how their academy should be run, City traveled round the world to look at examples of other successful academies as well as how other sports develop young talented players.
About 50 teachers protested outside the Department for Education's (DfE) offices in the city on Wednesday evening over what they described as "destructive" policies and a push towards academies.
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