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This policy is aimed at our learners who are registered on regulated qualifications or units and who are involved in suspected or actual malpractice/maladministration. It is also for use by Inspira colleagues to ensure they deal with all malpractice and maladministration investigations in a consistent manner. It sets out the steps our centre, and learners or other personnel must follow when reporting suspected or actual cases of malpractice/maladministration and our responsibilities in dealing with such cases. It also sets out the procedural steps we will follow when reviewing the cases.
This policy applies to staff and other individuals who interact or potentially interact with the work of the company on the delivery of regulated qualifications. This includes individuals involved with all aspects of devising, setting, tutoring, assessing, marking, administering, invigilating, internally verifying qualifications.
This policy is available for learners on the INSPIRA website.
1.1 Definition
Malpractice is essentially any activity or practice which deliberately contravenes regulations and compromises the integrity of internal or external assessment processes and/or the validity of certificates.
The categories listed below are examples of centre and learner malpractice. Please note that these examples are not exhaustive and are only intended as guidance on our definition of malpractice.
1.2 Centre Malpractice
1.3 Learner Malpractice
1.4 Plagiarism
Plagiarism is using the work of another person without crediting the source. Where plagiarism has occurred, learner achievements may be withheld or additional work may need to be submitted by the learner. Intent to commit plagiarism is an important factor when concluding if plagiarism has occurred; however, it is difficult to judge intent because accidental plagiarism is still considered as plagiarism. We take the view that there is no intent to plagiarise if the issue can be defined as poor academic skills relating to deficiencies in knowledge and understanding of how to reference. This means there are identifiable attempts to reference but they are not used correctly, resulting in an honest mistake.
1.5 Prevention
Inspira will take positive steps to prevent and reduce instances of malpractice by:
Introducing procedures for assessing work in a way that reduces or identifies malpractice:
All cases of suspected or confirmed malpractice must be reported to the awarding organisation. Failure to do so constitutes malpractice in itself.
The Charity will report suspicions or actual incidences to the appropriate awarding organisation immediately.
Individuals involved in the alleged or actual malpractice will be informed in writing making them fully aware of the nature of alleged malpractice and its possible consequences at the earliest opportunity.
The individual(s) involved in the alleged malpractice will be given the opportunity to respond in writing to the allegations made. They will also be informed of the appeal process and possible penalties or sanctions if allegation upheld.
Upon conclusion of a full investigation the Directors will inform the awarding organisation of the result.
If malpractice is proven Inspira may apply its own sanctions in addition to any imposed by the awarding organisation. Sanctions could include being removed from the programme. Individual(s) will be informed of the decision and sanction(s) imposed as a result of an allegation, to which they have a right to appeal using the Appeals Policy.