The Minister of Education demands answers and asks the Directorate of Education for an explanation of the exam chaos that has occurred. – It must have been very stressful for all the students who were ready to take the exam today that they got such a start to the day, says Education Minister Tonje Brenna to VG. When upper secondary school students all over the country were to take exams in Norwegian majors today, there was trouble. It took over an hour before the Norwegian Directorate of Education resolved the problems on its websites. Now Brenna wants an explanation of what has happened and what is being done to prevent this from happening again. – We shouldn’t have it that way. The exam is an important part of the students’ final assessment, says Brenna. Canceled exam The vast majority were able to start the exam when the problem was resolved. But in Møre and Romsdal the challenges continued. The county council had local network problems which meant that the pupils could not get online. – We just got word from Udir now that the exam is cancelled, says Kariann D. Flovikholm, competence manager in Møre and Romsdal county municipality to news just before 1pm. Flovikholm states that those who have started the exam can complete it if they wish, but they can also apply for a dispensation afterwards. But for those who have not started, it is cancelled. – But for the private sector, there we do everything we can to ensure that they pass the exam. They do not have the same opportunities to get exemption from the diploma as the others. First meeting with the exam – We sat for three hours waiting for the exam to start because the internet was not working, says Pernille Alnes, student at Ålesund upper secondary school. She explains that the internet came back on, and that they then sat for one hour of the exam before it was canceled for those who wanted it. Both she and her friend Marthe Fjelddahl-Jacobsen chose to drop the exam. – It was difficult to start the exam, so it was good that we were able to finish, says Fjelddahl-Jacobsen. This was her first exam. – It was not as I would have liked. I noticed that it was getting difficult to get started, and then I thought that this did not go as well as it could have if we had been allowed to start straight away. Lina Krugel and Jenny Bjerkvik, students at Ålesund upper secondary school, were to have their first exam. Photo: Sara Lovise Roaldseth / news Lina Krugel and Jenny Bjerkvik also chose to drop the exam. – After three hours the assignment comes, but by then we are already very tired. It was a bad start, so to speak, says Bjerkvik. They were ready for their first exam, and say it is disappointing that the system is failing. – We were a bit worried then, since it was the first time we were going to have the exam, says Krugel. – It is incredibly disappointing. It is our first exam, and we are so excited and have prepared ourselves, says Bjerkvik. She says you are left with a bad feeling. No more cancellations Viken county council also asked for an assessment as to whether the exam should be cancelled, writes VG. – We can confirm that Viken County Council has asked the Directorate of Education to assess whether the exam should be cancelled, writes press officer in Viken County Council, Pål Vikesland to the newspaper. The Norwegian Directorate of Education informs NTB that, as the situation is now, exams will not be canceled elsewhere than in Møre and Romsdal. They apologize for the problems. The directorate says that Møre and Romsdal have had local network problems and are therefore in a special position. The problems the Directorate of Education had – and which applied to the whole country – were solved on Monday morning. – We understand that students have had a difficult start to their exams because of this problem. We apologize for that in the strongest possible terms, says director Morten Rosenkvist in the Directorate of Education to NTB. They state that there are large and complex technical systems, which have been tested in advance. Then everything worked, but on Monday an unforeseen technical error occurred. – All students who started the exam late will be given extra time to complete it, the directorate states. – Weaken trust in fully digital exams – It is bad that the students had to experience being stressed in that way. And what it has done to the students this day, because they will have more exams. This has weakened confidence in fully digital exams. It is reprehensible that there was no plan B. That is what Ole Reinlund, headmaster at Ålesund upper secondary school, says. He says that the students were tired after waiting for several hours. Ole Reinlund, principal at Ålesund upper secondary school. Photo: Remi Sagen / news – It became clear to many of us that the exam should be cancelled, because so much time had passed. Also last week there was exam trouble when Visma InSchool had extensive operational problems. Pupils then had to log in to find out which subject they were going to take the exam in. The Education Association: – Concerned There should not have been a copy of the assignments sent out to the schools in advance. The Education Association in Bodø is calling for a backup plan for the exam. Photo: Truls Naas / Bodø Nu Uddanningsforbundet in Bodø, Chief union representative Katrin Kummernes is calling for an alternative plan for conducting the exam. – It is worrisome that no backup of any kind was planned. Desperate for students, who are in a new and very important situation, that chaos causes unnecessary stress. Hope all the students, despite the trouble, were able to give their best. They should have avoided trouble with organisation, writes Kummernes to news. Will get extra time The Norwegian Directorate of Education worked to resolve the error, and reported at 10:20 that the problem with logging in had been resolved. By then the exam day had lasted one hour and 20 minutes. – The vast majority of candidates now have access to the implementation system. Some candidates may still experience instability for a short period, but will not lose any of their work as a result, the Norwegian Directorate of Education stated on its website. The problem with access to the preparation section has also been resolved. – Candidates who are affected by the error will be given extra time for the exam, wrote communications manager Annelene Svingen in an email to news. news has sent the Directorate of Education a number of questions about this matter, but so far without an answer. Fears it affected the students At Brønnøysund upper secondary school, the principal experienced that around half of the students could not log in. – This is the big exam day. It is a serious matter, says principal Runhild Kjeldaas. This applies to VG3 students who have an exam in a Norwegian main subject and a Norwegian VG2 vocational subject. The students received an error message when logging in. – The first students were here at a quarter past eight, and the exam was due to start at nine o’clock. The headmaster is also not completely satisfied with the information that came from the Directorate of Education, which notified about the problems only at 09.30. – They could have been out a little earlier. At first we thought the problems were with us, says Kjeldaas. Principal Kjeldaas is afraid that this will affect the students who have their first exam. – It does something to your stress level, and it can affect your performance. – Should the exam have been postponed? – It is difficult for me to comment, but UDIR must have a plan for censorship here, that some students have actually felt the stress of not being able to start as planned. I hope information gets out to those who will censor. Also affected secondary school pupils Teacher Vibeke Herlø Thomesen and pupils in class 10B at Bø secondary school in Telemark were not given access to exam material on Monday morning. Photo: Vibeke Herlø Thomesen In Bergen, students in the secondary school were to prepare for a written exam in English tomorrow. – The students are waiting. They have not been through this before and do not know what they are getting, says principal Einar Skintveit at Kyrkjekrinsen school. Skintveit says there is currently no crisis, but it leads to extra stress for the students. – It is clear that the less time they get to prepare, the more stress there will be. From 9am to 2pm, pupils have time at school to prepare for their first exam. Furthermore, they can continue to prepare at home, until the exam at 9am tomorrow. – There is no crisis yet, but it is clear that tomorrow when everyone logs in, it will be exciting to see what happens. Then it doesn’t help to say that this might work out. – Complete crisis At Bø secondary school in Telemark, both students and teachers have also had problems with getting access to the preparation material for tomorrow’s exam in English. The material should have been available from 9 o’clock, but after one hour only 6 out of 27 pupils had got in, says teacher Vibeke Herlø Thomesen. – We have now connected a student PC to the smartboard in the classroom. We review everything together, so we are sure that everyone gets to see and read through. The teacher thinks it is very unfortunate that problems arise. – I think it is a complete crisis. It should have been double and triple checked that everything is working when it is such an important day for the students. Thomesen believes that part of the problems could have been avoided if paper versions and digital files had been sent to the teachers in advance.
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Trouble with the written exam – error with login – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
