In Danish education examining students in groups has been an officially recognized and widely used practise for several decades. However, last year the present liberal-conservative government announced that group examinations would no longer be permitted. Students were welcome to do study work and write reports in groups, but they were to be examined and assessed individually, without the presence of other students. Despite strong protests from many students, educationalists, politicians and professionals government has implemented this principle and the last group examinations have taken place in the summer of 2007. The use of group examinations in Denmark had its origin in the nineteen seventies, when Denmark like many other Western countries experienced rapidly rising enrolments in higher education. In an optimistic economic and social climate the Danish state adopted a strategy of meeting the rising demand through the creation of new universities and the adoption of new educational principles, which should facilitate study for new types of students and also equip graduates with more modern, flexible skills. Among the principles was cooperative study, where students learn to cooperate on tasks, share knowledge and presents their results together for examination. There is alignment between goals, learning activities and examination form. While the use of group examinations started in higher education it later spread to other levels of education. What has changed since the seventies that has caused the present Danish government to abolish the possibility of group examination? In the paper we will analyse the background for and the process around the ban on group examinations, and we will try to trace is this is a specifically Danish phenomenon or there are related developments at the European level. We will further discuss the value of different theoretical perspectives in explaining this step, including the ideological contradictions and impact of neo-liberalism and the growth of individualisation in modern societies.

Textual analysis og policy documents, case analysis, secondary analysis of survey results

We expect to show that the particular strength of neo-liberal ideology in Denmark combined with authoritarian elements in the conduct of education policy is crucial to this decision, but that it is contradicted by other trends in current education policy.