Teachers in Danish secondary schools are concerned that more and more students are using the internet to cheat on written exams.

“There is no doubt that we have a problem, not only in the schools, but the education system as a whole,” Annette Nordstrøm Hansen, head of the secondary school teachers organisation Gymnasieskolernes Lærerforening told DR Nyheder.

“Internet access makes it easier for students to cheat and I think the problem has grown.”

Schools are calling for tougher sanctions against cheaters and a political majority – led by education minister Ellen Trane Nørby – said that it is ready to invoke severe penalties, including expulsion, on those caught cheating.

Punishment not enough
Hansen said that simply lowering the hammer on cheaters was not enough and that a complete culture change was needed.

“It is absolutely essential that we discuss how to encourage students to not to cheat and not just how we punish them,” she said.

Hansen also said that suggestions of forbidding internet access during exams were unrealistic.

“That is not the answer,” she said. “The internet is an integral part of daily high school work, and it is important exams reflect the day-to-day.”

Back in the day before the internet, students needed to implement more creative methods to cheat during exams, although the epic scene from the 1985 comedy ‘Spies Like Us’ was perhaps slightly exaggerated.