“Teaching and learning promote the understanding and practice of academic honesty.”
Programme Standards and Practices (С3, 4), January 2014
- School philosophy on academic honesty
Muhammad al-Khwarizmi Specialized School (MAKSS) believes that Academic honesty is essential to IB philosophy and promotes students building and understanding the foundation of being ethical by gaining personal integrity and academic honesty. This academic honesty policy is the moral compass to promote and guide the academic values of our student body and school community. Promoting academic honesty assures that every student has an equivalent opportunity to exhibit their competence and skills they gained from their studies. It is expected of all members of the school community, students, parents, teachers, and administration to abide by the guidelines of academic honesty and personal integrity. MAKSS developed the following Academic Honesty Policy to adhere to the principles of the academic
honesty and to respect intellectual property.
This Policy:
● provides understanding of the principles of the academic honesty by all members of the school community
● guarantees protection of copyright of works of pupils
● seeks to support the principles of academic honesty as propagated by the IB Learner Profile attribute, i.e., Principled which describes students as acting with “integrity and honesty…” (IBO, 2009)
● defines the concept of plagiarism and unfair academic practice
● regulates actions of teaching staff and administration in case of violation of the principles of academic honesty.
2. Definition of Academic Malpractice
This is behavior that results in, or may result in, the student gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment components. It includes:
• Plagiarism: this is defined as the representation, intentionally or unwillingly, of the ideas, words or work of another person without proper, clear and explicit acknowledgment.
• Collusion: supporting misconduct by another candidate, such as allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another member of the academic community.
• Duplication of work: submission of the same work, for different assessment components or curriculum components.
• Any other behavior that gains an unfair advantage for a student or that affects the results of another student. - Distinction between collusion and legitimate collaboration
As stated by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO, 2009), “Collaboration may be loosely defined as working together on a common aim with shared information which is an open and cooperative behavior that does not result in ‘allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another’” (IBO, 2009 ; Gdynia Gymnasium, n.d.). - Responsibilities relating to Academic honesty
In order for the Policy to be fully implemented and for every student to realize the importance of
following the academic honesty norms, the following responsibilities related to the school community are listed below:
It is the responsibility of students to:
● act in a responsible and ethical manner throughout their participation in the programme and assessments
● avoid any form of academic dishonesty and unfair performance advantages
● follow the age-appropriate acceptable and unacceptable behavior norms outlined in Section 5.
- act with integrity and honest, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people anywhere; (IBO, 2014)
- take responsibility for their actions and their consequences. (IBO, 2014)
It is the responsibility of parents / guardians to:
● support and help their children to avoid cheating, plagiarism, and falsification and submit assignments on time by explaining the importance of academic honesty;
● model respect for the Academic Honesty Policy by discussing examples of acceptable and unacceptable behavior;
● praise their children when they finish work before the deadline and take responsibility for their work;
- encourage their children to plan ahead when preparing for formative and summative assessments.
It is the responsibility of the school to:
● develop the curriculum across all discipline areas that enables students to gradually build the habits of academic honesty;
● provide support and training for students, teaching staff and administration;
● ensure that students follow basic principles of academic honesty appropriate for their age level;
● ensure that all members of the school community understand the value and the concept of academic honesty;
● communicate the regulations and instructions on the prevention, detection and investigation of
malpractice to all members of the school community.
It is the responsibility of teachers to:
● read the IBO Academic Honesty Guideline documents;
● highlight the importance of academic honesty and explain the risks of violating it in the context of their subject;
● support students in preparing work for assessment to ensure they comply to relevant requirements;
● educate students to respect intellectual property;
● explain what academic honesty means in specific terms for both students and parents;
● introduce students to as well as practice referencing and citing rules;
● encourage students to express their own thoughts and create their own works;
● establish as well as they can, and to the best of their knowledge, that all students’ work that are accepted or submitted for assessment is their original work;
- support and act on the academic honesty policies of both the school and the IBO;
● provide students with advice on good academic practices and simultaneously act out such practices.
- 5. MYP guidelines
An academically honest MYP student
Should | Should not |
• keep and maintain accurate, personal course notes • understand and abide by the school’s expectation concerning academic honesty • acknowledge, in an appropriate referencing format, help from another source/site/etc. • ask beforehand what kind of external help is permissible • use the MAKSS’s convention for citing and includes a bibliography • follow all formative and summative assessment rules • understand that collusion and collaboration are different and collaboration is allowed |
• copy work of another student • give another student his/her work to copy • do the homework of another student • Submit work done by another student, a parent, a friend or a private tutor • use notes during a test unless allowed to by the teacher or the formative and summative assessment rules • use devices to help them have an unfair and dishonest advantage. • hide content on their persons to help them on assessments and examinations |
- Consequences of academic malpractice in MYP
If a student has committed academic malpractice, the teacher sends a written request to the Vice Principal and encloses any relevant student work as evidence of academic dishonesty. The Vice Principal carries out a full and impartial investigation into the matter based on the facts and supporting material presented. Upon confirmation of academic malpractice, penalties will be applied. The Vice Principal will inform parents of the results of the investigation and the following actions will be taken:
1st offense
● The teacher informs the Vice Principal of the incident in writing.
● The student is provided support and guidance to avoid future academic malpractices by the teacher.
● The student will receive a different task that covers the same assessment criteria.
● The parents will receive a warning letter about the consequences of academic malpractice.
2nd offense
● The teacher informs the Vice Principal of the incident in writing.
● The student will not receive credit for the work.
● The Vice Principal meets with the student, parents and teacher
3rd offense
● The teacher informs the Vice Principal of the incident in writing.
● The student will not receive credit for the work.
● The Vice Principal and Head of School meet with the student, parents and teacher to decide on further actions according to MMTV policy.
- Academic Honesty policy review and communication process:
1. A review of this academic honesty policy is subject to the following conditions: a review will take place every two years or when there are changes in the IB policy/ stipulations or when required.
2. The school adminstration reviews/revises the academic honesty policy.
3. The Lead teachers in turn take it to their respective department for discussion and feedback.
4. The revised academic honesty policy (which is in line with the IBO guidelines) is approved and finalized and shared by the school administration.
5. The latest version of this document is available for download on the school website.
Updated Acknowledgements (October 2023)
The following Sources were consulted during the process of updating this policy document:
1. International Baccalaureate Organization (2014) Effective citing and referencing
2. International Baccalaureate Organization (2014) Academic honesty in the IB educational context
3. International Baccalaureate Organization (n.d.) Academic honesty in the Middle Years Programme (e-brochure)
4. International School of Astana (2017) Academic Honesty Policy