The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. 

IB students at Elverum videregående are guided by the school’s values which among other aspects encourages students to think for themselves. The IB learner profile is also fundamental in aspiring to the mission statement.

Central to academic integrity is the following facet of the learner profile:

Principled: We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences (IB learner profile, revised version August 2013).

Understanding academic Integrity is part of how we approach learning and teaching in the IB diploma programme.

How we access information, learn and what constitutes knowledge is constantly evolving and an appreciation of this is important in our approach to academic integrity.

Recent changes in learning include:

Academic integrity is the very cornerstone of academic progress. The fundamental aim of this policy is to ensure that our school’s procedures for this practice are transparent, fair and consistent.

It endeavours to describe the rights and responsibilities of all members of the school community so that everyone understands what constitutes good practice, and misconduct, and what actions are to be taken if there are transgressions.  

What is academic Integrity?

Academic integrity entails acknowledging any source materials or ideas which are not the student’s own and have been used in any way such as a quotation, paraphrase, or summary from any source including Chatbots and Grammar supporting tools.

Written or electronic source materials may include visual, audio, graphic, lectures, interviews, broadcasts and/or maps. 

What constitutes academic misconduct?

Academic misconduct is defined as 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 components.

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.

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

Duplication of work: this is defined as the presentation of the same work for different assessment components and/or diploma requirements

Use of any other behavior that gains an unfair advantage for a candidate or that affects the results of another candidate (for example, taking unauthorized material into an examination room, misconduct during an examination, falsifying a CAS record). 

The school’s internal procedure when malpractice is suspected is as follows:

Internal sanctions

Internal sanctions may be imposed by the school for incidences of academic misconduct relating to homework, classwork, and internal exams which do not involve internally and externally assessed final pieces of official IB examination work, and will include:  

• 1st Offence: The student is required to re-do the work and reminded of Elverum vgs’s academic honesty policy. IB Coordinator is notified as are parents (students over 18 years of age can decide if parents/guardians are notified) and the misconduct is noted in school records.
   
• 2nd Offence: The student is given zero for the work, parents are notified (as above) by the IB Coordinator, and the student receives disciplinary consequences (including requiring to meet with the IB Coordinator and to attend extra classes/study periods). This second misconduct offense is noted in school records.
   
• 3rd Offence: If a student is found guilty of a 3rd breach of academic honesty, they will receive no credit for the relevant course, and may be recommended for withdrawal. After following the procedure for: An investigation of suspected or proven misconduct relating to internal assessments as outlined below: 

External Sanctions

External sanctions are those assigned by the IB, or by the school, in compliance with IB regulations, and relate specifically to the perception that academic misconduct has taken place in work which counts towards the award of the final Diploma. 

Should such academic dishonesty be suspected in the first draft of an IA, the EE or the TOK essay, it is likely that the internal sanctions above will apply.

However, if the suspected malpractice occurs at a later stage, either once work has been submitted to the IB, or when final versions of IAs are handed in with little or no time before the final submission date, misconduct investigation and sanctions will take place as detailed in the section below. 

The school retains the right to apply other sanctions when dealing with malpractice internally including internal exams, tests, coursework (internal assessments) and homework procedures.

 When the misconduct involves official IB examination procedures, these sanctions could also be enlarged to include suspension, expulsion, refusal to allow the student to attend the Graduation Ceremony, or to receive the school’s High School Diploma.  

Consequences of Academic Misconduct/Sanctions (as outlined by the IB) 

• If the academic malpractice is deemed to be minimal, zero marks will be awarded for the assessment component, but a grade will still be awarded for the subject. This is referred to as ‘Academic Infringement’. 
• If a candidate is found to have plagiarized all or part of any assignment, then no grade will be awarded for the subject. This automatically means that no Diploma can be awarded. 
• Misconduct during an examination will result in no grade being awarded for the specific subject involved – which means no Diploma can be awarded. 
• If a candidate falsifies a CAS record, no Diploma will be issued until 12 months after the examination session have passed. The CAS record will need to be correctly completed. 
• If the case of academic misconduct is very serious, the candidate may not be allowed to re-register for examinations in any future session. 
• An IB Diploma may be withdrawn from a candidate at any time if malpractice is subsequently established. 

An appeal may be made to the final award committee in the light of new factual evidence, within three months of the original decision. 

Investigations take place when:

• A coordinator informs IBCA that academic misconduct may have taken place during an examination. 
• An examiner suspects misconduct and provides evidence to justify his or her suspicion. 
• A member of staff identifies examination material that may or may not be the authentic work of a candidate and provides evidence to justify his or her suspicion. 

An investigation of misconduct detected by an examiner outside the school may take the following form:

• The head of examinations administration will inform the coordinator that a candidate is being investigated for suspected academic misconduct. 
• The coordinator immediately informs the school principal that a candidate is being investigated.  
• The coordinator will provide IBCA with: 
  • A statement from the candidate 
  • A statement from the subject teacher or extended essay supervisor 
  • A statement from the coordinator 
  • A summary of the interview with the candidate about the allegation of misconduct. 
• The investigation should take place immediately, although it can be delayed until after the last written examination taken by the candidate. 
• The candidate’s parents should be informed, but this decision will be taken by the principal and will depend on the age of the candidate. (The parents of a candidate who is under 18 will always be informed) 
• The planning and conduct of the investigation are left to the discretion of the coordinator, but the candidate’s personal rights must be protected. 
• Those who will investigate external allegations include the rector, the IB DP Coordinator and the subject teacher. 
• It is normal practice to interview the candidate with a relative or friend in attendance. 
• The candidate must be shown the evidence and be invited to present an explanation or defence. 
• With the candidate’s permission, a transcript of the interview may be taken and submitted to IBCA. The candidate must also be given the opportunity to provide a written statement. 
• The candidate and his/her parents have a right to see evidence, statements reports and correspondence about the case. Evidence may be withheld to protect the identity of an informant. 
• The candidate must be given a copy of the Regulations and his/her attention drawn to the articles which concern misconduct. 
• The candidate must be given sufficient time to prepare a response to the allegation.

An investigation of misconduct which happens during an IB Diploma exam may take the following form:

• The candidate will be allowed to complete the exam. As little disruption as possible should take place.  
• The coordinator should be immediately informed by the invigilator of his/her suspicions. 
• The coordinator should begin an investigation immediately after the exam has ended. This will include interviewing the candidate, and taking written statements from everyone involved, including the candidate, and the invigilator. 
• The principal should be informed as soon as possible. 
• The candidate’s parents/guardians should be contacted – if the candidate is under 18, and with the candidate’s agreement if she/he is over 18. 
• Full written statements should be submitted to the relevant section of the IB and these should be shared with the candidate and his/her parents 
• The candidate must be allowed to complete all other exams in that Diploma session. 
• The IB will make the final decision as to whether or not there should be consequences.

An investigation of suspected or proven misconduct relating to internal assessments may take the following form: 

• The candidate is told by the teacher and the Coordinator that there are doubts about the authorship of his/her work. 
• If the candidate agrees that the work is not his/her own, if time allows, and if the cover sheet has not been signed off by the candidate, then the work can be re-done – under close supervision. 
• If the candidate continues to insist that the work is his/her own, the subject teacher should be asked to provide a statement explaining why he/she believes that this cannot be the case.  
• The candidate, his/her parents (where applicable), the subject teacher, the principal and the IB DP Coordinator should hold a meeting to discuss the situation fully. A record of the meeting should be kept.  
• The candidate will be asked to provide evidence that the work is his/her own – corrected drafts, work of a similar style or standard completed earlier in the subject, or a brief test on the candidate’s knowledge of the work – and the subject.  
• The subject teacher’s decision will be final, and the candidate must be aware that the school can submitted a coded grade indicative of its belief that the work is not the candidate’s own when entering grades on the IB system, that this will not be questioned or investigated by the IB, and that this will result in failure of the component, subject and Diploma. 
• The school may choose to withdraw the student from his/her exam registration in the particular component, subject, or the Diploma as a whole. 

IB Coordinator’s role and responsibility

The principles of Academic Honesty are introduced to all candidates, staff and guardians during their first week at school.

This information will be repeated again when students begin their final year as our mission is that all our candidates understand the idea behind an academic craftsmanship and develop their academic integrity. We will also inform about intellectual property.

In connection to this introduction, all candidates will have to sign a declaration guaranteeing that all works handed in by the candidate follow the guidelines of the school’s Academic Honesty Policy.

Subject teachers’ role and responsibility

Teachers will explain to all students that their work must include acknowledgments in line with the principles of the subject taught as an integral part of the discipline in which they teach.

Examples of conventions to be used are Harvard convention, Oxford convention. APA-convention or Vancouver convention.

Detailed guidelines on how to use the different conventions can be found on

• Chicago Manual of Style
• Kildekompasset

Teachers should also be good role models in terms of making sure all shared materials (handouts, presentations etc.) are correctly referenced.

Moreover all teachers within a subject/discipline regularly review/evaluate student assessment in scheduled group meetings. This helps inform not only curriculum plans but assures forecasted and predicted grades are generated with as much fairness and accuracy as possible.  

To guide teachers, the following should be accepted as a starting point

• The majority of students do not intend to plagiarize and realize that citing the sources increases their credibility. Speaking regularly with students about this topic will serve as a reminder, and it will develop into a work habit, discussing the consequences of poor scholarship or academic dishonesty in the future.  
• Shift the emphasis towards the skills developed while writing, rather than the final product. 
• Appreciate the importance of the teacher role as exemplar. 

Extended Essay supervisors’ role and responsibility 

Extended essay supervisors are expected to bring up academic present material written by a chatbot as his/her own with their candidates and advise the candidates on the principles in the subject the extended essay is written.

Extended essays, TOK-essays and other assignments will be monitored, and students are not allowed to hand in any of these works if the supervisor has not been able to follow the progress.

All supervisors are expected to give detailed information about the student’s work progress on the EE cover sheet. To further strengthen the academic principles, a Viva Voce for the extended essays will take place in December the final year where all candidates and parents are welcome to participate.  

Librarian’s role

Students can obtain assistance on for instance how to quote, how to find the place and year of issue on a literary work etc.  

Students’ role and responsibility 

The academically honest student is aware of the importance of specific conventions accepted in a community of learners for being transparent about the use of ideas and work of others.

All assignments set and completed in school or at home, ranging from basic pieces of homework to formal assessments required by the IB are expected to adhere to academic honesty guidelines.

At our school, all off-time essays (that is essay not written in the classroom) TOK-essay, Internal Assessments and Extended Essays must go through the Turn-It-In plagiarism prevention platform on Managebac.  

The academically honest IB Diploma student:

 Parents’ role

• Encourage your son or daughter to plan each assignment so that they can meet deadlines with ease.
• Provide support with the scheduling of their work, as your son or daughter may have many assignments to complete.  Most students state that the reason they did not act honestly is related to a lack of time.
• Let your son or daughter do his or her own work, but show them how to research and plan their work.
• Establish a good level of communication with the school so that you understand the requirements of the Diploma Programme and what is expected of students.
• If your son or daughter is having difficulty with their work, encourage him or her to ask a teacher for advice 

In conclusion all stakeholders at Elverum videregående skole work to promote good academic practice and a school culture that actively encourages academic integrity.

This document is available to students on our Managebac platform - year group – files.

Acknowledgements

The following documents were consulted in the process of developing this policy: 

• Academic Honesty in the Educational Context, (2014), IBO, Geneva, Switzerland retrieved May 7th 2017
• Academic Honesty Policy. Copenhagen International School. IBO. (2015) retrieved May 7th 2017  
• Academic honesty – principles to practice Dr. Celina Garza – IB Academic honesty manager IB Assessment Centre – Cardiff retrieved May 7th 2017
• Academic Honesty Policy. IBO. (2023) retrieved March 22nd, 2023