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Vandevorst TAL MAT M2 App

Program Policy Statement (PPS)

Dominique Vandevorst
Marygrove College

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Program Policy Statement (PPS): Arendal International Schools Academic Honesty Policy.
Updated Program Policy Statement 27.05.2012

Arendal International School (AIS) is committed to academic honesty and will ensure that all students in the Primary Years
Program and Middle Years Program are aware of what this entails. While we trust that all students enrolled in the school
will submit work of their own that is appropriately referenced, we feel that it is necessary to give guidelines as to what this
means and what the consequences will be if any work does not meet this standard.

Academic Dishonesty at Arendal International School

Misconduct includes the following:

1) Accessing tests or unauthorized access to tests and other assessments
2) Bringing unauthorized papers and materials into a test room
3) Violations of test parameters set to ensure academic honesty and fair assessments or attempts to do so, for
4)
5)
6)
7)

example use of calculator or talking during tests

Attempts to change academic results
Using fake or fabricated data or results in an assessed piece of work.
Submission of insulting content in any coursework
Copying texts, ideas, information or images from a source and passing it as ones own without properly

referencing the work

8) Collusion: helping another student to be academically dishonest.
9) Using work from another assignment in a different subject/course without the teacher knowing it.
Intellectual property is the personal work of an individual; the work is from the mind or intellect of the individual. In free
societies everyone has the legal right to have their intellectual property protected and given credit when others use or
quote it. The Copyright Act protects intellectual property the same way as other properties that can be stolen.

What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that. 1 Plagiarizing someones work
is considered the same as stealing someones intellectual property. All work submitted for the IB PYP and MYP
(homework, class work and summative assessments) should be the students own work and therefore contain no
evidence of plagiarism. The school has created a reference guide for students and lessons specifically for this purpose to
help students avoid plagiarism.

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/plagiarismAccessedSeptember22,2011

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Responsibility: targeted stakeholders

Student
The IB PYP and MYP is an internationally recognized curriculum framework that has academic honesty at the forefront of
its standards. As an authorized PYP and MYP Program we consequently expect our students to honor these standards
and to be principled in all their academic work. By handing in an assignment for assessment the student acknowledges
the Academic Honesty Policy and the work handed in is therefore considered the students work. The same rules apply to
in-class assignments and tests as well as extended pieces of writing. There are no exemptions from this policy.

Parent
Parents are expected to support the schools work to highlight academic honesty and encourage their children to honor
others peoples work. Parents are expected to support and recognize the regulations that are put in place to ensure this.

Teacher
As the teachers are the ones requiring the standards of academic honesty, all teachers are expected to be role models of
honesty and integrity. This expectation includes activities inside and outside the classroom. The teachers are the main
monitors of academic honesty and responsible for the first step in the sanction policy described below.

The administration
The schools administration commits itself to providing the necessary tools and training to ensure the schools academic
honesty among staff and students.

What are the sanctions of academic dishonesty?

The school recognizes that there are different levels and types of academic dishonesty. The graveness of the dishonesty
will impact the sanction given to the student. The standard sanctions steps are listed below.

Sanctions
Consequence

First time
The student will receive a

Second time
A parent meeting will be

Third time
The third time a student is

letter home to be signed by

called with the relevant

caught plagiarizing, the

parent \ carer and is asked

teaching staff and/or the

student will be asked to

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to complete a new or

homeroom teacher. The

come to a meeting after

equivalent assignment. The

student will be asked to

school with parent \ carer,

letter sent to parents will be

write an assignment, but on

PYP or MYP Coordinator

kept in the students file.

a different topic if possible. A

and/or the Principal.

record of the meeting will be

kept in the students file.
The students record of plagiarism is erased at the end of each academic year to give the students a chance to show that
they have reflected on and learned from their mistakes.

Student Signature

date

..

Parent signature

date

..

At AIS students are required to be inquirers and take responsibility for their own learning whereby they themselves find
out information. Students frequently have to present their learning in different forms as part of summative assessments
for example through writing essays, creating power points, posters, exhibition, plays and so on. Students need to access
various sources to find information and to inform their thinking such as the internet and library. This means that students
need to have a clear awareness and thorough understanding of how to use other peoples work within their own and what
plagiarism means.

For example in grade 4, when students are making persuasive posters about caring for our natural resources they need to
find facts or research to support their thinking and their persuasive arguments. However it is important that students
understand and learn that they cannot take information from books or internet and copy or claim it as their own, or use it in
their work without referencing this appropriately. As a primary teacher I show students ways of reading information,
putting information into their own words and referencing information that they have used as this not only shows respect to
the original source of information but also shows understanding of what students are reading and finding out about.

More and more students within our school have IPods, computers, I Pads and mobile phones that have access to a
wealth of information. These tools are frequently used to help them access information or can be used at tests. Students
need to have a clear understanding of how to use this technology as a helpful tool for finding information without being

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academically dishonest or fabricating results or data as this would be plagiarism. Within a test situation it is also important
for students to understand that any copying of test results will result in failure on a test or piece of work.

It is important that students recognize early on in their academic learning how to be academically honest as later on in
higher education the consequences for being academically dishonest can be severe. Good learning and reporting habits
early on at school make it a lot easier when students enter the higher years of education.

Barriers to change would be students limited understanding of plagiarism and how to formulize information into their own
words and the importance of rewording, summarizing information and referencing material. By doing this they show
respect to the original source and show that they have understood material. Another barrier could be the parents as some
parents are not used to children even in primary education finding information themselves rather than the teacher
providing the answers. They are not used to students presenting pieces of work based on their own research and
therefore do not understand the process of how to present information from sources other than their own. However this
could be greatly helped by clearly explaining to parents the process of inquiry and how to help their children not to be
academically dishonest but using sources appropriately and show them how we can reference sources. Students need a
thorough understanding of how to find information and how to use it within their work and how to reference this
appropriately.

By clearly explaining to both students and parents the academic honesty policy and giving both parents and students
practical information and instructions on how to use sources and how to reference information we should see an increase
in academic honesty and reduced plagiarism.