Denmark Has Introduced an Oral Defense Requirement for Written Assignments
The Danish government has announced new measures aimed at preventing high school students from using generative AI tools to cheat on assignments and exams. Under the new rule, which has already come into force, students will be required to verbally defend the written assignments and projects they prepare at home in front of their teachers. The measure also applies to the roughly 9,000 students in the Higher Preparatory Examination (HF) program, who submit major written assignments each year, with the aim of confirming that submitted work was genuinely understood and written by the student.
The measures announced by the Ministry of Education go beyond oral defense alone. Under the new rules, schools have been instructed to use software that can monitor students’ computer screens in real time during written exams, and to set up firewalls restricting access to AI tools on school networks. In addition, schools are being encouraged to have more written work completed at school in controlled classroom settings, rather than at home, so that teachers can directly observe the preparation process.
Danish Education Minister Magnus Heunicke said that AI-related cheating in upper secondary schools had become a serious problem, describing the situation as requiring urgent action. Heunicke said the goal of the steps taken was not to ban the technology outright, but to prevent AI from undermining students’ ability to think independently, their academic performance, and their skills.