Pupils at upper secondary schools all over the country had problems on Monday when they had to take exams in Norwegian main subjects. In Møre and Romsdal, the county council also experienced local network problems which meant that the students could not get online, and the exam here was cancelled. Anette Lunheim, county leader of the Norwegian Association of Lecturers in Møre and Romsdal, thinks the whole thing is very unfortunate, and believes the situation should have been avoided. Anette Lunheim, county leader of the Norwegian Association of Lecturers in Møre and Romsdal, believes that both text attachments and exam papers in paper form would have been good alternatives to have in hand. Photo: Privat – It is indeed a predicted disaster both from the teaching profession and not least from the various trade unions, such as the Norwegian Association of Lecturers, she says. She believes that this has been a known problem and that the Norwegian Directorate of Education should have had a plan B in place. Lunheim receives central support from the Lecturers’ Association. – The exam is very important. When the frames fail, it is a disaster. And when the frames fail despite the fact that we have given notice – then it is a predicted disaster, repeats Helle Christin Nyhuus. Helle Christin Nyhuus, head of the Norwegian Association of Lecturers, believes there should have been analogue backup systems in place during the exam. Photo: Fartein Rudjord She says that they have notified the Ministry of Education several times. – Both that the digital infrastructure is too poor, and that there are great inequalities around the country. The Norwegian Association of Lecturers believes that the Directorate of Education and the Ministry of Education must thoroughly review what has happened and get all the facts on the table. – Scandal Andreas Skeie Jacobsen is one of the students who have had major challenges in completing their exams this year. When he was due to take the final exam at Elvebakken upper secondary school in Oslo on Friday, several electronic resources were unavailable. – Some had access to dictionaries, and others did not. Dictionaries are important when taking the Nynorsk exam. It leads to big differences when not everyone has access to it. Andreas Skeie Jacobsen, a student at Elvebakken upper secondary school, thinks the exam so far has been a scandal. Photo: Camilla Alexandra Lie / news He characterizes Monday’s exam in the main objective as a scandal from start to finish. Inside the classroom, it quickly became clear that some people got in and got started on their tasks, while others stood there resting. – Something happens in the room when someone enters the exam at 9 o’clock while others have to wait an hour. It will be a very turbulent atmosphere, he says. Andreas Skeie Jacobsen (tv), sits in the library with a classmate. They experienced technical problems during the exam. Photo: Camilla Alexandra Lie / news Jacobsen reacts to the fact that the students therefore do not have equal opportunities and that it will not be fair. – They either have to cancel the exam or they have to let us choose for ourselves whether we want that grade on the diploma or not, he believes. Opening for printing exams on paper On Tuesday, the Norwegian Directorate of Education sent a statement to the Ministry of Education about the exam problems. In the report, it appears that the Norwegian Directorate of Education allows for digital exams to be printed on paper in the event similar incidents like the computer problems on Monday happen again. Director of the Directorate of Education, Morten Rosenkvist, has already opened the door for more people to have their exams canceled after the problems on Monday. He says that the directorate is now working on getting an overview. – Specifically, today I had a meeting with all the state administrators in the counties and they have been asked to find out how the exam went locally. We are concerned that the candidates were given extra time, and whether there have been major or minor problems, he says. Morten Rosenkvist, Director of the Norwegian Directorate of Education (Udir), is responsible for conducting examinations in the upper secondary school. Photo: Camilla Alexandra Lie / news – Is it appropriate to fail yesterday’s entire exam? – This is important for all the students, it is a way to show off their competence and in our large numbers we see that almost everyone completed the exam yesterday. So before we consider such a big decision, we must first see how this went in the whole country. Here there will be a difference between doing something nationally, or that there may be individual schools where very big problems have arisen. Then we can go in and see if there is a need for a dispensation there. Rosenkvist disagrees that this was a predicted disaster. He believes that most login problems were resolved within an hour, and that they then had a plan B in that the students were given extra time. He also says that the systems they have have been tested and built to withstand a larger surge than what came on Monday and that they are in use in countries that are much larger than Norway. news has not been able to get a comment from the Ministry of Education.
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The Norwegian Association of Lecturers believes that the exam chaos was a predicted disaster – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
