Australian Education Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday defended plans to rank schools by performance.

Some educators have said the planned introduction of a ranking website next year will exacerbate the problems of schools in poor areas by labeling them as under-achieving.

Almost 10,000 Australian schools will be profiled on www.myschool.edu.au when the website is launched in 2010.

Gillard said the site will compare academic results and this will put "stresses and strains on principals and teachers."

"But that's what is needed to lift performances," she told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio.

The minister said the site would compare like schools and would not name and shame but she conceded it would put pressure on some principals and teachers.

"I'm unapologetic about that," she said.

Gillard said the information would help the government identify where new resources would make the most difference.

"Parents have a right to know what's happening in their children's school," she said.

"If other schools are doing better, then parents have got a right to know that and then they should be down at the school and they should be talking to the principal and they should be saying 'How come a school somewhere else in the country teaching the same kind of kids as you teach is doing better?'.

"Principals might feel uncomfortable about that question but they sure as hell should answer it," she added.

(www.eduwo.com, Jainlyn&Charlotte)