Danish High School Writing Marks Continue to Drop

Danish high school students are getting lower marks in written Danish. This trend is important for families raising school-age children in Denmark. Recent exam results show a steady decline in written Danish skills.

Between 2018 and 2026, average grades in written Danish dropped from 6.8 to 6.2. This grade drop occurred at Denmark's general upper secondary schools. Overall results in Danish across all upper secondary schools have also fallen recently.

Education Minister Magnus Heunicke called the new numbers concerning. He believes artificial intelligence is largely to blame for the drop. AI has quickly altered how students study and complete their work. He warned that using AI to avoid writing risks reducing student learning.

The report follows poor results in the global Pisa survey from early September. In that study, 15-year-olds recorded their worst scores in reading and maths. Heunicke previously described those results as a serious education crisis. School academic performance remains a heavily debated topic across Denmark.