Malpractice and Plagiarism Policy

BACKGROUND

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.

SCOPE

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.

RESPONSIBILTY

  • It is the responsibility of all individuals to accept, understand and comply with the policy.
  • It is the responsibility of all managers and line managers to ensure that all staff are aware of and comply with the Company policy.
  • It is the responsibility of all staff to ensure learners are aware of and understand the policy.
  • It is the Responsibility of the Director to monitor this policy and make revisions as necessary.
  • It is the responsibility of the Head of Centre or relevant Director to investigate and report all cases of suspected or actual malpractice to the awarding organisation and conducting a full and thorough investigation.

Location

This policy is available for learners on the INSPIRA website.

POLICY

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

  • Contravention of the centre and qualification approval conditions of the Awarding Body
  • Denial of access to resources (premises, records, information, learners and staff) by any Inspira representative and/or the regulatory authorities
  • Failure to carry out delivery, internal assessment, internal moderation or internal verification in accordance with the requirements of the Awarding Body
  • Deliberate failure to adhere to the learner registration and certification procedures of the Awarding Body
  • Deliberate or persistent failure to continually adhere to the centre recognition and/or qualification approval criteria or actions assigned to our centre
  • Deliberate failure to maintain appropriate auditable records eg learner files
  • Persistent instances of maladministration within the centre
  • Fraudulent claims for certificates
  • The unauthorised use of materials/equipment in assessment/exam settings (e.g. mobile phones/cameras)
  • Intentional withholding of information from the Awarding Body which is critical to maintaining the rigour of quality assurance and standards
  • Deliberate misuse of the logo and trademarks of the Awarding Body
  • Collusion or permitting collusion in exams
  • Learners still working towards qualifications after certification claims have been made
  • Contravention by our centres and learners of the assessment arrangements specified by the Awarding Body
  • Insecure storage of assessment materials and exam papers
  • Unauthorised amendment, copying or distributing of exam papers
  • Inappropriate assistance to learners by Inspira staff (eg unfairly helping them to pass a unit or qualification)
  • Submission of false information to gain a qualification or unit

1.3 Learner Malpractice

  • Forgery of evidence
  • The unauthorised use of materials/equipment in assessment/exam settings (e.g. mobile phones/cameras)
  • Collusion or permitting collusion in exams
  • Unauthorised amendment, copying or distributing of exam papers
  • Inappropriate assistance to learners by Inspira staff (eg unfairly helping them to pass a unit or qualification)
  • Submission of false information to gain a qualification or unit
  • Plagiarism of any nature by learners

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:

  • Showing learners the appropriate formats to record cited texts and other materials or information sources including websites.

Introducing procedures for assessing work in a way that reduces or identifies malpractice:

  • Effective internal quality assurance
  • Identifying periods of supervised study where assessment evidence is produced by learners, as required
  • Altering assessment assignments/tasks/tools on a regular basis
  • Using oral questions with learners to ascertain their understanding and verify their evidence.

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.