PHILOSOPHY  

Academic Integrity is central to maintaining the high standard of academic excellence to which Sanjay Ghodawat International School is dedicated. The School is therefore committed to promoting and maintaining integrity as it relates to all aspects of teaching and learning. The main objective of the Academic Integrity Policy is to ensure a positive, intellectual environment built on all stakeholders being principled, open minded, balanced, and reflective, thinkers and risk takers. The school endeavors to inculcate values that promote mutual respect and care amongst its students, teachers, administrators and parents at all levels, consistently.

A safe and encouraging learning environment in which students can explore ideas and make visible the development of their own thinking will support academically honest behaviours. The attributes of the learner profile are important in nurturing such an environment.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE  

The purpose of the SGIS Academic Integrity policy is to: –

• Define and clarify Academic Integrity and malpractice in the context of IB Diploma Programme offered at SGIS as well as the expectations associated with submission of authentic
• To inform the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in preventing, detecting malpractice, investigating procedure and consequences in the instances of alleged malpractice
• This Academic Integrity Policy is the working document developed by school IBDP teaching staff, administration and steering committee.
• This policy also documents how the SGIS manages incidents of student academic misconduct and school maladministration cases, ensuring confidence is maintained among students, parents, schools and other
• The terminology used by the IB regarding academic integrity, student academic misconduct and school maladministration
• The broad definitions of terms to allow conversations about academic integrity at school

KEY WORDS:

It is important for all stakeholders of the school to understand the importance of academic integrity. Following definitions given by the International Baccalaureate are adopted by SGIS:

Academic Integrity: Academic integrity is 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.

Academic Misconduct: Behaviour (whether deliberate or inadvertent) that results in, or may result in, the candidate or any other candidate gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment components.

Although the following list is not exhaustive, academic misconduct can, in general, take several forms:

Plagiarism: This is defined as the representation, intentionally or unwittingly, of the ideas, words or work of another person without proper, clear and explicit acknowledgment.

Following are the three types of plagiarism:

• Copying material directly from source without proper citation. This includes copying and pasting from websites or electronic source and copying directly from a printed resource.
• Use of sentences or phrases from external sources without citation, copied wording mixed in with your own
• Over-reliance on sources and phrasing sources in inappropriate manner not allowed by the assignment, i.e. rephrasing a paragraph in your own words by using the ideas and sentence structure of the original source you are

Collusion: This is defined as supporting academic misconduct by another candidate, for example, as in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another.

Difference between collaboration and collusion: Collaboration is defined as working together on a common aim with shared information, which is open and cooperative behaviour that does not result in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another. Collusion occurs when a student uses fellow learners as an unattributed source.

Duplication of work: This is defined as the presentation of the same work for different assessment components and/or Programme requirements.

Fabrication of Data: Manufacturing of data for a table, survey or other such requirement (providing fake data without any investigation). Using fabricated or forged information during lab work, field visit, manipulation of data/observation from experiment setup, copying data/observation from fellow students, citation of existing experiment setup.

Intellectual Property Rights:

 Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works such as music, paintings, videos; designs; and symbols, names and images used for commercial purpose. There are different types of intellectual property rights, such as patents, registered trademark, designs, copyrights and moral rights. These rights are normally protected by law. Students and teachers must respect these rights and only use such material in accordance and norms provided by the law. They also need to acknowledge the original author/creator of such material by referencing correctly. Students should keep in mind that unlawful activities such as illegal music download, Peer to Peer (P2P) file-sharing; downloading pirated material from unauthorized sites may lead to the student facing legal proceedings.

UNDERSTANDING AND PROMOTING ACADEMIC INTEGRITYAT SGIS

To maintain trust and credibility: Trust in academic qualifications is fundamental. When a student or

a school contravene the principle of academic integrity, that trust pact is broken with the IB as an awarding body accountable for the validity of the assessment process.

To develop respect for others: Students that understand how knowledge is built will understand that it is acceptable to use the ideas, words or work of others. However, following good academic practice it is expected that information is appropriately acknowledged.

CREATING AND MAINTAINING A CULTURE OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

An education system can be considered effective if its recipients learn and develop the skills needed to face life beyond the classroom. Assessments can only be trusted and recognized by organizations if they are a true and genuine reflection of the personal level of achievement of a student and are carried out legitimately, under equal and comparable conditions.

If the assessment process is distorted by dishonest acts, the validity of the entire learning process is threatened. SGIS promote academic integrity and ensure that all members of the community support the principle.

RESPONSIBILITIES FOR ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

 All stakeholders involved in IB education must meet the expectations and do what is required to embrace, promote and maintain academic integrity to ensure a fair and genuine assessment process.

The school leadership team

 Academic integrity is 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. To promote academic integrity school will form a committee.

PREVENTION OF ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

 SGIS leadership team believes in educating the members of the school about understanding the importance of academically honest practices in life. Following preventive measures will be undertaken by the school:

• All students will be made aware of the importance of Academic Integrity policy and what constitutes academic misconduct
• Good practices are expected to be introduced, modeled and used throughout the school

• The need to acknowledge the source of data, works of art, computer programmers, photographs, diagrams, illustrations, maps, etc. in addition to journals, books and websites must also be made clear to students by their subject teachers.
• Study skills including research, note-taking, paraphrasing and referencing skills to be taught by the teachers via the ATL
• Time to be reserved at the beginning of the year for formal training on research skills and referencing norms for the students
• Students will be required to sign a declaration that all work they submit for assessment will be their own authentic work after
• Students should keep all rough notes and drafts that they produce in preparing work for submission to teachers or examiners in order to be able to defend themselves against charges of
• Teachers must be aware of the conventions of acknowledging all sources in the prescribed They must themselves acknowledge sources in proper referencing style, while giving any material to students.
• Newly recruited teachers to be made aware of the Academic Integrity policy during their induction training programme.
• School has subscribed to the plagiarism detection service “TURNITIN” to help teachers detect plagiarism in student draft work and give them feedback so that the final work of students is free of any However, teachers should not depend solely on this website and should be proactive in providing guidance and giving support to students so that they do not indulge in any academic misconduct.

DETECTION OF ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

 Teachers must be vigilant while checking/reading students’ work for obvious changes in student writing style, vocabulary and terminology. The quality of the work should be checked against students’ performance

• Teachers must make themselves aware of various ways in which academic misconduct can be detected, including web-based services such as “TURNITIN”. They should also familiarize themselves with using simple techniques such as using search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo) to detect the source of student passages that has been

• Early detection of unintentional plagiarism will discourage students from indulging in intentional misconduct, since they would be aware that their work is being checked for

Academic Misconduct in Homework or Class Assignments:

  1^st instance

 The subject/homeroom teacher will investigate and inform the student about the

• If it is found that the misconduct is unintentional (academic infringement), the teacher will advise the student on ways to avoid such mistakes in the
• Teacher will keep a record of this misconduct of the submitted work (appendix 2), write feedback on the work with the specific details of the misconduct.

 2^nd instance

• If the misconduct is found to be intentional or if the misconduct is repeated, teacher will present the evidence of student misconduct (e.g. in the form of “TURNITIN” report)
• The student will have to redo the
• A record will be kept and the relevant programme coordinator will be informed (appendix 2).

Collusion

 If the case is of collusion where a student is suspected of receiving excessive help from another student or has submitted the work of another student, the teacher along with the coordinator will interview the concerned students to find out if the collusion has been done.

• Student(s) will be given a chance to show their knowledge and understanding of the work along with rough work/drafts and any other
• Student(s) may be asked to redo the
• If the misconduct is repeated no grades will be given for students
• A record of the incident will be kept in the student file (appendix 2).

Misconduct during Internal Written Assessments 1^st Instance

• In the first instance of misconduct during internal written assessments by a student, a meeting will be conducted between Programme Coordinator, Principal and the student along with the
• A formal written warning will be issued to student which will stay on student
• No grades will be awarded to the student in such

2^nd Instance

• In case the student repeats such misconduct again, he may be restrained from appearing for written assessment.
• Temporary suspension may be given from the
• Academic Misconduct in internal assessment or other course component that might become a part of a student’s formal IB assessment:

• Any draft submitted by students without proper referencing will not be accepted by teachers for marking.
• All drafts of IB coursework will be checked on “TURNITIN” by teachers to identify any possible instances of academic infringement, students have a responsibility of correcting such instances before submitting the draft for feedback or marking.

If the subject teacher detects academic infringement in the preliminary draft submitted by the student

• The subject teacher will ask the student to correct the draft and The Programme Coordinator will be
• If the subject teacher suspects plagiarism in the preliminary draft, the teacher will inform the Programme
• Once plagiarism is confirmed, Programme Coordinator will decide on the appropriate course of
• The student maybe asked to re-write the assignment partially or
• A record of such incident will (See appendix-2).
• The Programme Coordinator may also decide to inform the student’s parents of such
• If the subject/supervising teacher suspects that the final piece of student coursework which needs to be submitted to IB is not his/her own work

• The teacher will withhold authentication signature on the cover sheet or on the IBIS and inform the Programme
• A meeting will be held between the teacher, Programme Coordinator and Principal to investigate the case and interview the
• Their decision will be reported to student and
• Since IB does not accept coursework which is not accompanied by the signature of subject teacher/supervisor, the Programme Coordinator may inform the IB that the piece of work of the particular student will not be submitted to
• If the coursework which has already been sent/submitted to IB is found to be plagiarised after the dispatch/submission
• The Programme Coordinator and Principal will meet the student and the parents and will inform the parents of further

If the misconduct is confirmed then the relevant examination body (IB) will be informed by the Programme Coordinator and the subsequent procedures of the IB will then apply.

Malpractice in External Written Examinations  

• The School will follow the procedures exactly as laid out by the Examination Body.
• The student(s) involved in the malpractice and his/her parents will be informed about the malpractice, the procedures and the likely outcomes of such behaviour as per the policy of examination
• Further disciplinary actions may be taken as deemed fit by the

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES THE ROLE OF STUDENTS

• Students must take responsibility for their They are expected to do their own work and to demonstrate honestly what they have learned.
• Student’s responsibilities include:
• Read, understand and become familiar with the rules of the SGIS Academic Integrity Policy and with all IBO rules and regulations documents
• All work submitted is the student’s own

• All sources are fully and correctly acknowledged including sources taken from websites, audio- visual, emails, s, photographs, graphs and similar
• When required by teachers and/ or by the DP Coordinator, students must submit their work to “TURNITIN”
• To give respect internal
• To make proper use of a citation style.
• At SGIS we have adopted the MLA-9 & APA STYLE
• When submitting his/her work to IB examiners, the candidate is ultimately responsible for ensuring that all work submitted for assessment is authentic, with the work or ideas of others fully and correctly
• Before submitting their work to IBO, students must sign a declaration of authenticity

ROLE OF THE DP COORDINATOR  

• Ensure that students understand clearly the IBO expectations regarding academic honesty
• Ensure that the school’s Academic Integrity policy is aligned with IB expectations and undergoes a periodic review.
• Ensure that teachers, candidates and legal guardians are aware of IB requirements concerning academic
• Agree with IB teachers on an internal calendar of all due dates for the receipt/ submission of

candidates’ assessment material

• Ensure candidates and invigilators are provided with relevant information about examination
• Establish a calendar for
• Plan regular meetings with faculty members to verify that all parties have a clear understanding of IB
• Ensure that policies and procedures are easily available to all interested parties (teachers, students and their legal guardians)
• Organize regular briefings with student’s legal

ROLE OF THE HEAD OF THE SCHOOL

 Establish an Academic Integrity

• Provide teachers with effective training
• Ensure teachers and students adhere to the school’s Academic Integrity
• Share with legal guardians the aim of the Academic Integrity
• Ensure everybody understands Academic Integrity and consequences for IB students if they engage in academic misconduct.

ROLE OF THE LIBRARIAN

 The Librarian has a key role in helping students become familiar with the research process and teach them the fundamentals of academic

• The Librarian provides guidance to students throughout their scholastic path and is a valuable resource in conducting teaching and learning of specific conventions accepted in a community of

ROLE OF TEACHERS

 At SGIS teachers are expected to:

• Talk to students about plagiarism and how to properly conduct a research paper or prepare an oral
• To set clear expectations for assignments and provide guidance to candidates on how to correctly cite sources » Be vigilant for changes in writing style, and in noticing that the student’s work is too complex and academic and goes beyond the student’s
• Read the final version and check for authenticity of any work submitted to (EE, TOK papers, Internal Assessments).
• Teachers are strongly encouraged to make use of “TURNITIN” when checking on major IB .

THE ROLE OF PARENTS

We strongly believe in the open communication between teachers, school administration and parents. Parents can play a very important role in supporting and helping their children achieve their full potentials and acting with honesty by:

• To read and become familiar with the Academic Integrity Policy and all IBO documents related to the IB Diploma rules and regulations » Supporting teachers and administrations in talking to their children about the importance of academic integrity

• To cooperate with the school in case their child is found to be guilty of malpractice either intentionally, or by inappropriate documentation of sources

COMMUNICATION TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

 The Academic Integrity policy to be communicated to the SGIS community through multiple pathways including ERP, Website, Parent Orientation, staff meetings, PTA meetings and grade level meetings. Copy of Academic Integrity policy will be available on school server. Students and staff will be made aware of the policy by the coordinator and necessary training given by Librarians.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 IBO. Academic Integrity in the IB Educational Context. Geneva: International Baccalaureate Organization, Nov. 2016. PDF.

IBO. Diploma Programme Academic Honesty. Geneva: International Baccalaureate Organization, July 2011. PDF.

IBO. Diploma Programme General Regulations: Diploma Programme. Geneva: International Baccalaureate Organization, Sept. 2016. PDF.

IBO. Diploma Programme: From Principles into Practice For Use from August 2015. Geneva: International. Baccalaureate Organization, Apr. 2015. PDF

IBO. Effective Citing and Referencing. Geneva: International Baccalaureate Organization, Aug. 2014. PDF.

IBO. MYP: From Principles into Practice. Geneva: International Baccalaureate Organization, May 2014. PDF.

“Welcome to the Purdue OWL.” The Purdue OWL: MLA Style. Purdue University, n.d. Web. 03 June 2014.

<https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/11/>