Academic Integrity is not just a subject of concern for students. At OWIS, we recognise that academic Integrity is central to the entire academic community, including teachers, students, coordinators, researchers and administrators.
What is academic Integrity?
Academic Integrity is the ethical policy or moral conduct of the academic world. The term was propagated by the late Don McCabe, regarded as the “grandfather of academic Integrity. Academic Integrity upholds and ensures the portrayal of educational values through actions such as avoiding plagiarism, cheating and contract cheating and upholding the academic standards of rigour and honesty in academic research and publishing.
Values of Academic Integrity
Honesty
Honesty constitutes the indispensable foundation of Academic Integrity and is a pre-requirement for the complete realization of respect, fairness, trust, and responsibility. Honesty is central to the basic foundation of learning and teaching. It is demonstrated through actions that include and go beyond respectful classroom conduct, truthful assignment and homework completion, honest test taking and accountability for one’s actions.
Trust
Trust is a fundamental pillar of education and learning and is the ability to depend on the truth of something or someone. One can only be honest with someone if they trust them and our faculty at OWIS builds that trust by setting clear expectations and having a two-way communication street. Trust is inherent in sharing ideas and information that support learning and teaching.
Fairness
Each member of the academic ecosystem, including students, staff, faculty and administration, have a duty to treat others justly and have the right to expect fair treatment. At OWIS, we are committed to building an academic ecosystem that recognizes inclusion and diversity and values equity. Be it the evaluation criteria for assignments and exams or reprimanding students for dishonesty and academic misconduct, we ensure that there are no prejudices taking action – treatment is fair.
Respect
At OWIS, we follow a reciprocal form of respect – respect for oneself as well as others. Respect for oneself means undertaking challenges without having to compromise on your own values. At the same time, one needs to value the opinions and belief of others and understand the need to be challenged and refine ideas. Respecting academic deadlines, feedback, honesty, being on time etc are the few ways respect is demonstrated at secondary school.
Responsibility
Everyone is responsible for their actions and accountable for protecting the Integrity of education as a whole. This means one should stand up against misconduct, resist negative peer pressure, and serve as positive example.
Why is academic Integrity important?
Academic Integrity is key to fair and equal learning opportunities. When you cheat, copy and indulge in plagiarism, test banks or contract cheating, you are essentially taking away student growth opportunities. If the work is not the student’s own, they lose the opportunity to receive accurate feedback, thereby preventing accurate assessment. Since students’ work is not original, they, in turn, can not give feedback to educators who can not reform the curriculum. In short academic Integrity disrupts the entire education basis.
Importance of academic Integrity in higher education
In higher education, academic Integrity is profound, as unethical behaviour poses a threat to the student’s learning and reputation. High academic Integrity and honesty protect a school’s image and help them contribute favourably by adding to society’s well-being. The perpetuation of Integrity empowers students and staff to develop innovative skills, think creatively, enhances concepts and artistic works while recognizing other students’ work and ensuring proper credibility without plagiarism. Academic Integrity allows students the freedom to build new ideas, creative work and knowledge while respecting and recognising the work of others.
Academic Integrity is essential to prepare you for future challenges and opportunities you will face in the workplace. Academic Integrity is also key to shaping future workplace behaviour. According to numerous studies, a lack of academic Integrity in school results in workplace dishonesty, and thus, it must be firmly established to safeguard a lifetime of Integrity. IB places a lot of importance on academic Integrity in assessments because a fair assessment is are a true reflection of the student’s personal level of achievement that is completed with Integrity. Without academic Integrity there is not through education, resulting in a feeble foundation of knowledge which in fields like medicine, engineering, law etc. can have serious consequences. Academic Integrity is an extension of one’s own personal Integrity.
Benefits of Academic Integrity for students
Academic Integrity is especially beneficial for students as it ensures real learning. If students are allowed to cheat, plagiarise, and use other shortcuts, their learning opportunities are being snatched from them. When the student’s thoughts on the paper aren’t their own, the assessment is in vain. Giving or receiving feedback post the assessment is in vain as it is inaccurate and not an actual representation of the student’s educational journey. Both the students learning and academic assessment are dependent on academic Integrity. This results in a lack of informed changes in Academic Integrity.
Academic Integrity instils respect for learning in students. Without academic Integrity, one is disrespecting the academic work of others and tarnishing the trust factor. This can have negative long-term consequences on life-long learning.
If students cheat in courses or academic exercises, they are being deprived of their opportunity to learn, develop and improve their skills. Academic Integrity is key to ensuring that the education educational degree received by the student reflects their own academic achievements.
Why is it important for schools to uphold academic Integrity?
Without academic Integrity the school loses all trust. The lack of academic Integrity is representative of no originality and the fact that the learnings and assessments are flawed. For schools, academic Integrity is a controlling principle in education and a choice that the school is making to act in a responsible way resulting in building trust. Academic Integrity is characteristic of fair educational practices, ethical decision-making, responsible behaviour. It stands testament to of legitimate, honest and authentic scholarly work.
Schools need to uphold academic Integrity for the following reasons:
To maintain impartiality: IB assessments can only be just and fair if each student is provided with an equal opportunity and the test is actually a reflection of the student’s achievement. For this validity and assessment accuracy, the school must strongly discourage and take action against any act that undermines this fairness. This means no students should engage in academic misconduct, and neither should the school commit administrative wrongdoing as it becomes disadvantageous for those who have followed the rules.
To remain a trustworthy and credible institute: Trust in academic qualifications is central to any educational institution. When a school or student breaches the principle of academic Integrity, that trust is lost and the reputation is tarnished.
To develop respect for others: Students who appreciate and recognize how knowledge is built will know that it is acceptable to use the works, words, and ideas, though only with proper acknowledgment.
Conclusion
We At OWIS, a leading international school in Singapore, start emphasizing the importance of respect, honesty, kindness, and fairness very young from our IB Primary Years Programme. Our educators model these traits in the classroom and outside, ensuring students follow suit. We reward and appreciate students who stand up for their principles, whether in the form of a second-grade child sharing their color pencils with a classmate or a high school student modeling Academic Integrity in the classroom. Acts like these are recognized and acknowledged as part of being principled.
They are accepting principles while in school empowers children to become moral adults. While it may not always be the easy path to choose, it is, in fact, the most rewarding one. People such as Raif Badawi, Bhagat Singh, Malala Yousafzai, and Nelson Mandela are prime examples of people who faced hardships for standing up for their beliefs. But their actions made the world a better and more accessible place to live in.
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