Academic Integrity

What's in a word?

On 10 October 2019, the IB published new guidelines on Academic Integrity the details of which are given below: 

Academic integrity is at the heart of assessment emphasizing its worth and validity; and as assessment is part of the central standard of Learning in the Programme Standards and Practices, its importance is emphasised further. The whole school needs to uphold this principle by  creating and maintaining a culture of academic integrity. The use of the word 'culture' here, also nods to the new Programme Standards and Practices 2020 and its key stones of Purpose, Environment, Culture and Learning. Supported by the document IB Academic Integrity,  a school must review the expectations and responsibilities for the whole school community. This means discussing the roles of the school leadership team, programme coordinators, teachers, students and parents/legal guardians.

Key points for continuity:

The terms academic honesty and integrity are interchangeable until the former is gradually phased out in due course.

Penalties applied to confirmed cases of student academic misconduct and school maladministration have followed, and will continue to follow, the penalty matrices published in Academic integrity. Categories of school maladministration and student academic misconduct are clearly defined, along with a scale of penalties if either is confirmed.

The publication The responsibility of IB World Schools will no longer be used separately as it is now part of the  Academic integrity publication.

Categories of 'student academic misconduct' and 'school maladministration' though previously set by the IB,  are now published for the first time.