Responsibilities of the school
Academic integrity is a part of the teaching and learning process and an aspiration of the entire school community. Maintaining such a fostering environment where academic integrity is understood and adhered to is a key accountability of the school leadership team. It should inspire all members of the community to uphold the values of respect and trust where everybody assumes an equal responsibility to uphold this principle.
A common understanding of what academic integrity means is one of the most significant tasks a school leadership must ensure; any new member of staff and all students should start with a shared understanding and have an informed dialogue about the benefits of honest learning for the entire community.
Creating and maintaining an academic integrity culture requires a school-wide strategy to consider the following key elements:
- the academic integrity policy
- the teachers delivering IB programmes
- the designated team or person responsible for academic integrity
- the wider community such as students and their parents or legal guardians.
The school leadership is responsible for adhering to all IB requirements to prevent student academic misconduct and school maladministration; school administrators and teaching staff are expected to support the school in meeting the IB requirements. They are also responsible for adhering to the rules and regulations, ensuring that examinations and assessments are conducted according to the expected guidelines.
Focusing on processes for managing academic integrity incidents that are student and/or school staff related, IB World Schools are responsible for:
- having an academic integrity policy, with scheduled plans for reviews and updates
- teaching students about academic integrity from the start of their education
- ensuring that teachers, support staff, students and parents and legal guardians have a common understanding of the IB’s expectations with regard to academic integrity. This includes what constitutes student academic misconduct and school maladministration, and the possible consequences.
- ensuring that students are held accountable, according to the school’s own policies, when involved in an academic misconduct incident
- ensuring that teachers and school administrators are held accountable, according to the school’s own policies, when involved in a maladministration incident
- immediately notifying the IB of any breach in the procedure for the secure storage of IB examination materials or the conduct of the examinations, in accordance with the procedures described in programme-relevant documents
- supporting the IB in any investigation into possible student academic misconduct and/or possible school maladministration, following guidance provided by the IB.
Responsibilities of the programme coordinator
The programme coordinator is responsible for maintaining an overall supervision of all activities related to the teaching and learning process at the school. As pedagogical leaders, they must maintain an excellent communication with the team of teachers, with the students and their parents or legal guardians.
The coordinator must also manage the necessary resources with the school leadership team to ensure that the teachers receive the training specified by the IB and that the other resources required for teaching, for example library, laboratories and computer equipment, receive sufficient budget.
To facilitate the tasks of those involved in IB programmes, the coordinator must ensure that all regulations, policies and subject guides are easily located both in printed format in the library and electronic in the school's web portal.
Focusing on processes for managing academic integrity incidents, the programme coordinator must support all the tasks listed in “Responsibilities” in the "The school leadership team" section and is also responsible for:
- ensuring that all school and IB policies are applied fairly and consistently
- ensuring compliance with secure storage of confidential IB material policy and the conduct of IB examinations
- ensuring that teachers, students and parents and legal guardians have a copy of, read and understand the school’s academic integrity policy and the programme-relevant IB regulations
- reporting suspected instances of student academic misconduct and school maladministration to the school administration and/or the IB
- supervising all activities related to the investigation of student academic misconduct and school maladministration cases according to the school and/or IB policy.
(IBO, 2023, ss. 10-11)
Rights and responsibilities of the teacher
Teachers play a vital role in upholding academic integrity and need a clear understanding of school policies and IB expectations. Their behaviour sets an example for students, and any violations like plagiarism can undermine the importance of rules.
Teachers should follow subject guidelines, especially regarding the level of support they provide to students. Students are expected to work independently, and excessive assistance, such as multiple edits, should be avoided.
Addressing academic integrity is not just a matter of student behaviour; it can also indicate teaching and learning issues. Teachers must strike a balance when addressing this issue, emphasizing that education is about gaining knowledge and skills, not just earning high grades.
Teachers need to evaluate the views and conduct of students in regard to academic integrity, including any deficiencies, before developing an appropriate plan to address the topic. It may also be valuable to consider the reasons why students engage in acts of academic misconduct, such as:
- unintended acts caused by ignorance or lack of understanding of the expectations to create authentic work
- not understanding the IB’s rules and regulations
- not understanding the consequences of their actions
- lack of training in the required skills, for example, on how to reference
- poor time management
- the trivialization of academic misconduct incidents
- poor satisfaction with their teachers and assessment tools
- lack of punishment for those who engage in academic misconduct
- the ease with which information is obtained on the internet and the general belief that the
- information available there belongs to all and can be used without the need to reference it
- the easy access to support services, such as writing or tutoring services
- the pressure to be successful in their studies and achieve excellent results
- inconsistent messages, instructions and training received from teachers as to what constitutes academic misconduct.
It is advisable that shortcomings on the part of students are not punished immediately. It is preferable to generate a supportive environment that allows students to learn while developing the required skills and understanding of good academic practice. Given that students have the opportunity to simultaneously learn and practise, they will be better equipped to grasp the significance of academic integrity.
The topic of academic integrity must be a point of convergence in the curricular design, commencing with the inclusion of the topic at the beginning of the studies and continuing with it, providing contextualized examples as students’ studies develop. This will allow students to use these opportunities as building blocks and have the necessary foundations when they progress into further education or professional endeavours.
Assessment tools such as tests, projects, assignments, essays, reports and quizzes, can also be used as instruments to reinforce the topic of academic integrity as they provide an opportunity to give feedback and also allow the identification of deficiencies as weak areas that need improvement, rather than incidents that require penalization.
To support students’ engagement with the school strategy on academic integrity, teachers can consider, in a mutually agreed manner, classroom strategies on teaching-learning activities that focus on prevention and mitigation of academic misconduct incidents while also ensuring a standardized understanding of regulations and expectations across the teaching body.
Teachers must carry out activities that increase the acceptance of students and offer the ethical vision that every educational system must possess. In this way, students will understand and accept the reasons why it is important to have such a stance, which in turn will allow them to be advocates of a culture of integrity.
Declaring conflict of interest, apparent or real, is also expected from teachers, as well as their support in all activities that the school undertakes to define the policy of academic integrity and ensure its distribution. When an incident arises that represents a form of student academic misconduct or school maladministration, teachers must act accordingly and report the incident to the relevant member of staff or the school administration.
Teachers should have the full support of the school administration in receiving the training required to understand academic integrity.
Teachers should understand how to provide opportunities for students to practise and to learn how to use other people’s work in support of their own, including the responsibility to teach awareness of misconduct and procedures.
Articulate responsibilities for teaching a variety of practices related to academic integrity. Include how teachers can model academic integrity practices and how they can support students in learning academic integrity practices and expectations.
Focusing on processes for managing academic integrity incidents, IB teachers must support their school and programme coordinator and are also responsible for:
- ensuring that students have a full understanding of the expectations and guidelines of all subjects
- ensuring that students understand what constitutes academic misconduct and its possible consequences
- planning a manageable workload so students can allocate time effectively to produce work according to IB expectations
- giving feedback and ensuring students are not provided with multiple rounds of editing, which would be contrary to instructions described in the relevant subject guides
- ensuring that all student work is appropriately labelled and saved to avoid any error when submitting assessment to the IB
- developing a plan to cross-reference work across multiple groups of students when they are preparing
- to submit final pieces of work for assessment in order to prevent collusion
- keeping electronic copies of students’ past work for three years in case a plagiarism check is required
- responding to student academic misconduct and supporting the school’s and IB’s investigations
- responding to school maladministration and supporting the school’s and IB’s investigations.
(IBO, 2023, ss. 12-13)
Librarians’ responsibilities
The librarians collaborate with the programme coordinator, the EE coordinator and language teachers in communicating how to uses sources in an academic and honest way.
The librarians at Gjøvik vgs visits the diploma programme 1 (DP1) class before the October break to introduce the use of sources. They further give the students an introduction of using academic sources in their work when they start their process with the EE. They will specifically teach the students to use the bibliography generator Zotero.
All teachers are responsible for further relevant training in source use and critical thinking within their subjects.
Rights and responsibilities of the students
It is expected that all IB students, regardless of the programme, understand and accept the principle of academic integrity and face the challenges associated with it. The school will present the students with the policies and rules, but the students must also strive to understand these and ask is they find it unclear.
Focusing on processes for managing academic integrity incidents, IB students must support their school, the programme coordinator and teachers and are expected to:
- have a full understanding of their school’s and the IB’s policies
- respond to acts of student academic misconduct and report them to their teachers and/or programme coordinators
- respond to acts of school maladministration and report them to their teachers and/or programme coordinators
- complete all assignments, tasks, examinations and quizzes in an honest manner and to the best of their abilities
- give credit to used sources in all work submitted to the IB for assessment in written and oral materials and/or artistic products
- abstain from receiving non-permitted assistance in the completion or editing of work, such as from friends, relatives, other students, private tutors, essay writing or copy-editing services, pre-written essay banks or file sharing websites
- abstain from giving undue assistance to peers in the completion of their work
- recognize that they are accountable for actions and behaviours online, and show a responsible use of the internet and social media platforms, including but not limited to:
- not discussing IB examinations and questions for a 24-hour period after the examination concludes, to respect students who may not yet have finished their examination
- not using inappropriate language or sentiments that may be aired at a future job or university interview
- not expressing views, behaviour or language that brings the IB into disrepute