The following policy was created to provide a cohesive understanding of academic honesty for all high school students.
Philosophy -- Education
The IB Learner Profile forms the foundation of The International School of Stavanger’s Academic Honesty Policy. In keeping with the IB Learner Profile, our faculty acknowledges the importance of encouraging our students to be:
Curious, developing skills for inquiry and research.
Independent learners who collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.
Life-long learners across a range of disciplines that have local and global significance.
Critical and creative thinkers, able to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems. Reasoned, ethical decision makers.
Confident and creative communicators in more than one language and in many ways.
Principled, demonstrating integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere, taking responsibility for their actions and their consequences (IB Academic Integrity).
In accordance with the IB, “Examples of Academic Honesty shall be clearly communicated and modelled at an age appropriate level so that all students understand:
• their responsibility for producing authentic and genuine individual and group work
• how to correctly attribute sources, acknowledging the work and ideas of others
• the responsible use of information technology and social media
• how to observe and adhere to ethical and honest practice during examinations” (IB Academic Integrity).
“Educators supporting IB students in their learning should understand their own central role in developing the approaches to learning and reinforce the principle of academic integrity through all teaching, learning and assessment practices” (IB Academic Integrity). At ISS High School, the teachers strive to be models of Academic Honesty by attributing sources in their teaching and learning while instructing students how to do the same. The high school curriculum includes a scope and sequence of skills designed to enable students to avoid plagiarism, including attribution of sources, paraphrasing, summarizing, and using direct quotes within their own work. Students are given multiple opportunities to develop these skills in individual subject classes and through the SOAR/Advisory programme and to use tools like NoodleTools and Turnitin to check for their own understanding.
Aims of the Policy
Academic integrity is a responsibility of the whole ISS school community. In an effort to define the roles of each member of the community, this document outlines the responsibilities and expectations of all the stakeholders across the school community (IB Academic Integrity 1). This policy also outlines the possible consequences for academic dishonesty.
Definitions
“The International Baccalaureate defines Academic integrity as a guiding principle in education and a choice to act in a responsible way whereby others can have trust in us as individuals. It is the foundation for ethical decision-making and behaviour in the production of legitimate, authentic and honest scholarly work” (IB Academic Integrity 3).
“What is academic misconduct?
Academic misconduct is a behaviour that results in, or may result in, the student or any other student gaining an unfair advantage (or a behaviour that disadvantages other students) in one or more assessment components” (IB Academic Honesty).
“Categories of ‘academic misconduct’
Plagiarism is defined as the representation, intentionally or unwittingly, of the ideas, words or work of another person without proper, clear and explicit acknowledgment. The use of translated materials, unless indicated and acknowledged, is also considered plagiarism.
Collusion is defined as supporting academic misconduct by another student, for example allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another.
Misconduct during an IB examination includes taking unauthorized material into an examination room, disruptive behaviour and communicating with others during the examination. (Communication about the content of an examination 24 hours before or after the examination with others outside their school community is also considered a breach to IB regulations.)
Duplication of work is defined as the presentation of the same work for different assessment components and/or Diploma Programme requirements.” (IB Academic Honesty)
Collaboration versus Collusion
ISS and the IB recognise that successful collaboration is a key competency both in educational environments and in the adult world. Many activities in the classroom are collaborative, with students working in small or larger groups to complete a task. Some assignments within the IB are collaborative, but the bulk are individual work and students are instructed clearly as to which tasks can be done collaboratively, and which must be done individually. Collusion occurs when work which should be done individually is shared by students. Copying the ideas or words of another student or allowing them to be copied is not acceptable.
Development of the Skills
Responsibilities of the School
In addition to having access to a copy of the ISS HS Academic Honesty Policy, via electronic communication systems, students will receive direct instruction in acceptable use of information. In order to facilitate candidates’ growth as principled inquirers, ISS faculty provides all candidates with instruction in:
“What constitutes ethical practice in the IB Diploma Programme
The research process
Authentic authorship
Best practices for ensuring assessments meet standards of academic honesty
The rules for acknowledging source material based on standard practice and provide examples and conventions for citing and acknowledging original authorship
Data-gathering techniques
Rules and regulations regarding malpractice and related consequences” (Giffin)
Responsibilities of the Students
ISS students are responsible for:
Reading the ISS HS Academic Honesty policy and familiarizing themselves with the principles and practices of academic honesty
Exercising academic honesty in all aspects of their work and acting as principled learners
Conducting all experiments and activities in an ethical way
Documenting source material in a formal and appropriate way
Using direct quotations appropriately
Paraphrasing and acknowledging the ideas of others appropriately
Understanding academic misconduct and the related consequences
Following all examination regulations (Giffin)
Responsibilities of the Parents
“Although they are not directly involved in daily tasks at school, parents and legal guardians are able to collaborate with the administrative and teaching team in the activities carried out by the school to promote academic integrity while encouraging their children to observe the rules and complete all work according to the expectations” (IB Academic Integrity 17).
Good Practice
“How teachers can support their students
• Make sure that students are able to locate the ISS HS school’s academic honesty policy.
• Put the topic into context: why plagiarism is a problem and the value of honest scholarly work.
• Explain that transgressions to the ISS HS academic honesty policy will not be tolerated and explain the consequences.
• Provide students with appropriate support and exemplars of good practice.
• Devote teaching time for students to practise your chosen referencing or bibliography format.
• Build schedules to request drafts of the final tasks or essays. Do not just wait for the final piece to be submitted.
• Plan for activities where you can show students the different forms that plagiarism can take.
• Explain that questionable or unreferenced content of the task will be cross-referenced using the internet.
• Avoid general topics for tasks and make them as interesting as possible.
• Be a role model, giving others credit for their work every day in your teaching” (IB Academic Integrity 47).
“How students can avoid committing plagiarism
• Read and understand their school’s academic honesty policy.
• Design time schedules or plans to manage tasks sensibly.
• Maintain organized notes and sources consulted during the production of work.
• Seek guidance and support from their teachers when doubts arise about referencing.
• Cite sources by making clear which words, ideas, images and works are from others, including maps, charts, musical compositions, films, computer source codes and any other material.
• Give credit for copied, adapted, paraphrased and translated materials from others” (IB Academic Integrity 47).
• “Make sure that information used is acknowledged in the body of the text and is fully listed in the bibliography using the referencing style agreed with the teacher.
• All sources cited in the text must also be listed in the bibliography (or reference list/list of works cited) and all sources listed in the bibliography must be cited in the text.
• Cite your sources so that readers can find them; if you cannot state the origin of the source it is probably better not to use it.
For further details about the IB’s expectations in regards to referencing see the publication Effective citing and referencing ” (IB Academic Honesty).
Resources
The IBDP Coordinator and HS Principal provide faculty with appropriate professional development with regard to principles and practices of academic honesty as defined by the IB programme.
The Librarian provides instruction to both the faculty and the students in the correct methods for citing sources of information.
Teachers provide subject or assessment-specific instruction in all areas related to academic honesty including: research methods, citation styles, documentation, proper data collection techniques, and ethical practices. Teachers only accept work if the assessment reflects a high level of academic honesty.
Candidates have access to online style guides and writing laboratories. Links are available through the school library website. Students also have access to tools including Turnitin and NoodleTools that allow them to avoid unintended plagiarism, comply with style guidelines and cite their sources correctly.
Candidates and their parents/guardians are provided with copies of the ISS HS Academic Honesty Policy via electronic communication systems.
Conventions for Citing and Acknowledging Original Authorship
ISS recognizes MLA as the acceptable style for coursework. MLA conventions are taught beginning in the Middle School and students in grades 9 and 10 are expected to use MLA in all written assignments, where appropriate. For IBDP, including the Extended Essay and Internal Assessments, students should confer with their advisors to determine the most appropriate style for their subject area. Students will then need to transfer their knowledge to either other recognised citation styles. Noodle Tools can help students with citation/referencing in a variety of citation styles.
Consequences
Work that does not follow the guidelines of the ISS HS Academic Honesty Policy will not be accepted. Students will be asked to re-do work that is not in line with the policy.
Deliberate and/or repeated infringement of the policy will be dealt with as a disciplinary issue.
Incidents of academic misconduct with IB or IGCSE are dealt with following the appropriate procedures of the IB or CIE. Academic misconduct may result in students not receiving a grade in their IBDP or IGCSE examinations.
Giffin, Tracy, editor. "Academic Honesty Policy." International Baccalaureate Programme at Prince Andrew High School, edited by Jesse Li, Prince Andrew High School, 2019, sites.google.com/view/ibpahs/policies/academic-honesty-policy. Accessed 18 Sept. 2020.
International Baccalaureate, compiler. Academic Honesty in the Diploma Programme. Geneva, International Baccalaureate, 2019.
---, editor. Academic Integrity. IBO.org, International Baccalaureate Organization, Oct. 2019, www.ibo.org/contentassets/76d2b6d4731f44ff800d0d06d371a892/academic-integrity-policy-english.pdf. Accessed 18 Sept. 2020.