Academic Integrity Policy

This school policy should be read in conjunction with the IBO’s Academic Integrity Policy from October 2019. This policy has been revised and updated in by the IB Coordinator and IB teaching staff in the spring of 2022.

Academic Integrity: Philosophy and Practice at Stenhus Gymnasium

Philosophy

Stenhus Gymnasium places great value on the ethical qualities of personal integrity and academic honesty. Academic honesty is expected of all members of the school community: students, teachers, management and administration and parents. In our expectations and practice we are guided by two of the IB Learner Profile attributes, which describe students as:
“Principled: We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences.”
“Reflective: We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses to support our learning and personal development.”

It is our policy that:

• all Diploma Programme students understand the basic meaning and significance of academic honesty
• all work produced by Diploma Programme students is their own, authentic work
• all such authentic work presents the ideas and words of others as fully acknowledged
• students understand and obey the rules relating to proper conduct of examinations
• students understand the difference between collaboration and collusion, and that it is unacceptable to present work arrived at through a process of collusion

This policy refers to all assignments set and completed in school or at home, ranging from basic pieces of homework to formal assessments required by the IB.

The aim of this policy is to:

• promote good academic practice and a school culture that actively encourages academic honesty
• enable students to understand what constitutes academic honesty and dishonesty
• encourage students to look to their teachers, supervisors and IB coordinator for support when completing assessed work to prevent any possible form of malpractice
• ensure that students understand the importance of acknowledging accurately and honestly all ideas and the work of others
• explain to students that they have an important role in ensuring that their work is academically honest
• impart to students that plagiarism is a serious academic offence for which the school shows no tolerance
• explain to students precisely what sanctions will be imposed should they be found guilty of malpractice.

What is Academic Integrity?

Academic Integrity refers to:

• the proper conduct in relation to the conduct of examinations
• the full acknowledgement of the original authorship and ownership of creative material
• the production of ‘authentic’ pieces of work
• the protection of all forms of intellectual property – which include forms of intellectual and creative expression, as well as patents, registered designs, trademarks, and copyright.

Definition of Malpractice

Malpractice is a behavior that results in the candidate or any other candidate gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment components.

Malpractice may include:

• Plagiarism: The representation of the ideas or work of another as the candidate’s own
• Collusion: Supporting malpractice by another candidate – allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another. Note that there are occasions where collaboration with other candidates is permitted or actively encouraged. Nevertheless, the final work must be produced independently, even though it may be based on similar data. This means that the introduction, content, and conclusion of a piece of work must be written in each candidate’s own words and cannot therefore be the same as another candidate’s work
• Duplication of work: The presentation of the same work for different parts of the Diploma Programme. An example would involve submitting the same piece of work for a History Extended Essay and the History Internal Assessment.

Malpractice also includes:

• Making up data for an assignment
• Falsifying a CAS record
• Taking unauthorized material into the examination room, including a mobile phone, an electronic device, student’s own notes, etc.
• Misbehaving during an exam, including any attempt to disrupt the examination or distract another candidate
• Failing to comply with the instructions of the invigilator or other member of the school’s staff responsible for the conduct of an examination
• Impersonating another candidate
• Stealing examination papers
• Disclosing or discussing the content of an examination paper with a person outside the immediate community within 24 hours after the examination
• Using an unauthorized calculator during an examination
• Concealing and/or using unauthorized software on a graphic calculator, particularly, but not only, during examinations.

Further definitions

Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work, writing, thoughts, visuals, graphics, music, and/or ideas as your own. Plagiarized work is work which fails to acknowledge the sources which it uses or upon which it is based. Plagiarism is a clear breach of academic integrity.

Definition of Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is writing a piece of text out in one’s own words. Students are allowed to paraphrase, but they must acknowledge the source they have used.

Acknowledging sources

How to make sure plagiarized material is not used:

• The simplest method of avoiding plagiarism is to ensure that you honestly and accurately acknowledge, by references in the body of your work, and/or in a bibliography at the end, every piece of material you used in the production of your work
• All ideas and work of other persons, regardless of their source, must be acknowledged
• Websites on the Internet and any other electronic media must be treated in the same way as books and journals. The sources of all photographs, maps, illustrations, data, graphs, audiovisual and similar material must be acknowledged
• Passages that are quoted verbatim must be enclosed within quotation marks and references provided
• All works of art, film, dance, music, theatre arts or visual arts must have their source/origin acknowledged.

The responsibility of each student

A student’s responsibilities include the following:

• The student is responsible for ensuring that all work submitted for assessment is authentically their own.
• The student is responsible for fully and correctly acknowledging the work and ideas of others
• The student is expected to review their own work before submission for assessment to identify any material which requires acknowledgement
• The student is expected to comply with all internal school deadlines. This is for your own benefit and may allow time for revising work that is of doubtful authorship

Please note that once a student uploads the final version of an examination component, such as an internally assessed piece of work, a TOK essay, or an Extended Essay, a student is not allowed to resubmit a different piece if work if the first submission is deemed to be plagiarized.

The responsibility of each teacher

• Teachers need to vigilant for obvious changes in a candidate’s style of writing, for work which is too mature, too error free, or more characteristic of an experienced academic than of an upper secondary school student
• Teachers are expected to read and check candidates’ work for authenticity before submission to the IBO. This refers to all internal assessments, and external assessments such as the TOK essay and the Extended Essay
• Teachers should use a plagiarism software program such as “Turn-it-in” to check final versions of major assignments, such as Internal Assessments, the Extended Essay and the TOK essay
• Any issues of authenticity arising from plagiarism and/or collusion before the submission of work for assessment to the IBO must be decided within the school, initially by the subject teacher, and then in discussion with the IB Coordinator
• If the IB Coordinator or a teacher have reason to suspect that part or the whole of a candidate’s work which counts towards the final IB Diploma grade in that subject may not be authentic, that work must not be accepted or submitted for assessment. In such cases, the IBO indicates that one of two possible courses of action be adopted:
  • The candidate can be allowed one opportunity to revise and resubmit the work. The revised work will need to be resubmitted in good time, i.e., minimum one week in advance of the relevant IB submission deadline, typically 15th March or 20th April
  • If there is insufficient time to resubmit the work, a grade F will be entered against the candidate’s name on the appropriate online mark sheet. This will result in no grade being awarded for the subject in question. Consequently, this will result in no IB Diploma being awarded.

In addition to the above, the school may make further decisions, in line with its own disciplinary policy, which may include expulsion, in addition to, the suggested course of action noted above. If plagiarism is detected after a candidate’s work has been accepted or submitted for assessment, the International Baccalaureate’s Curriculum and Assessment office will be informed.

What support can students expect from teachers and the IB Coordinator?

• All Pre-IB and IB DP students will be introduced to the policy by the school’s IB Coordinator, Classroom teachers, and subject teachers
• Students will be clearly informed how malpractice will be investigated and what the consequences are
• Teachers will actively use correct citing conventions when providing candidates with reference material
• The school librarian is always willing to provide support and assistance in terms of research techniques
• In connection with the EE process, students are given sessions on academic writing, referencing, and citation
• Candidates will be provided with the ‘Conduct of Examinations’ booklet prior to the IB Diploma exam nations, and examination conduct be discussed fully in an exam instruction session in advance of final examinations.

Monitoring and sanctions

Teachers, students, and administration are encouraged to reflect on the work they are completing, presenting, and assessing. This self-reflective approach, coupled with a school ethos which values personal and academic integrity, should result in an environment where the monitoring of academic honesty is consistent, student-led, and non-invasive.

Teachers do, however, retain responsibility both for guiding students in the formation of academically honest practices, and for monitoring the work they hand in to ensure it complies with IB Diploma Programme regulations. To assist students and teachers in understanding the importance of developing an academically honest approach to all aspects of the Diploma Programme, internal and external sanctions are in place to respond consistently should issues related to academic dishonesty arise.

Internal sanctions generally refer to assignments and classwork, which do not count towards the award of the final IB Diploma.

External sanctions are those applied by the IBO, and relate specifically to all pieces of work, usually ‘final version’ (internal assessments, final exams, TOK essays, CAS portfolios, the Extended Essay, etc) which count towards the final IB Diploma.

Internal Sanctions

Internal sanctions may be imposed by the school for incidences of malpractice relating to homework, classwork, and internal exams which do not involve internally and externally assessed final pieces of official IB examination work, and will include:

• 1st Offense: The teacher notifies the IB Coordinator in person or in writing. The teacher and student meet to clarify the incidence and again instruct the student about the rules and proper procedure. The student is offered the chance to re-do the work to attain the grade. A note is taken in the student’s ‘Lectio’ school record about malpractice.
• 2nd Offense: The teacher notifies the IB coordinator. The teacher, IB coordinator and student meet to clarify the incidence. The student is not offered to re-do the work; no grade is awarded. The student is given a formal Written Warning (directly, when over 18 years of age; sent to parents, when under 18). A note is taken in the student’s ‘Lectio’ school record about malpractice; all teachers of the cohort are informed.
• 3rd Offense: The teacher notifies the IB coordinator. The teacher, IB coordinator and student meet to clarify the incidence. The student is not offered to re-do the work; no grade is awarded. The student is given a formal Final Written Warning (directly, when over 18 years of age; sent to parents, when under 18). A note is taken in the student’s ‘Lectio’ record about malpractice; all teachers of the cohort are informed.

Any further breach of the Academic Integrity Policy after the Final Written Warning leads to themstudent’s immediate withdrawal from the programme.

External Sanctions

External sanctions are those assigned by the IBO in compliance with IBO regulations and relate specifically to the perception that academic integrity has taken place in work which counts towards the award of the final IB Diploma.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Academic Honesty: Guidance for Schools, (2003, 2011), Published by the International Baccalaureate Organization, Switzerland
• Academic Honesty in Diploma Programme Arts (2012), Published by the International Baccalaureate Organization, Switzerland
• Academic Honesty Policy, Copenhagen International School, 2014 Academic Honesty Policy, Nørre Gymnasium, 2014
• Academic Honesty Policy, Hasseris Gymnasium, 2016.

REFERENCES: The text of Stenhus Gymnasium’s Academic Integrity Policy follows to some extent the wording/policy of Hasseris Gymnasium’s Academic Honesty Policy and Nørre Gymnasium’s Academic Honesty Policy – on agreement, as a joint approach.