Danish students to be allowed to use AI for English exams
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Students in some high schools in Denmark will be allowed to use artificial intelligence to prepare for English language exams from next year, the education ministry announced on Friday.
The move comes as education authorities around the world debate whether AI is a useful learning tool for those entering an increasingly digital economy, or a slippery slope to producing dumbed-down graduates.
The Danish government said the permitted use of AI in the English curriculum from 2026 would be experimental, and apply only to the oral component of the English exam for the high school diploma.
In that test, once a student is handed their topic, they would have one hour to prepare, during which they would be “permitted to use all available tools, including generative AI”, the ministry said.
The students would then have to give their oral presentation in person in front of an examiner.
“We are launching pilot schemes to try to find the right balance,” Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye said in a statement, emphasising the need to encourage digital learning while upholding teaching standards.
“With students growing up in both analogue and digital worlds, we need to ready them in the best way possible for the reality they will encounter after their schooling.”
When it comes to the written part of the English test, the ministry said students would have to do part of it handwritten to ensure no reliance on computers.
That will be a break from previous years, when students typed into computers connected to the internet.
“For certain linguistic aspects, it is prudent to have exams that are totally non-digital,” the minister said. “That limits cheating and helps students to develop their own style of language.”
In Europe, high school students already have to do similar exams using handwriting, not computers.
Denmark has been allowing students to use the internet since 2008 when they take their exams.
The Danish AI experiment will only be open to high schools that volunteer to take part.
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