The ethical dilemma that I have faced and I am sure other teachers have is the plagiarizing of content by a student who then passes the content off as their own work. This is especially problematic in English. There are dozens of sites which a student can access which have essays, short stories, poetry and nonfiction writing. Students are becoming more adept at covering their tracks for this kind of behaviour. If one googles say, “ethical and moral issues of student plagiarism” there is a plethora of sites one could go to research this issue. Here are a few of the titles on the first page of a Google Search -
The search returned a potential of 415,000 hits just on this one search. One particular paper called, “An Ethical Dilemma: Talking about Plagiarism and Academic Integrity in the Digital Age” by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and Kelly Sassi (English Journal 100.6 (2011): 47–53) tells of an encounter with plagiarism which I am sure a number of teachers, especially English teachers, will recognize. It entails a fictional discussion with a student and a teacher who had been assessing the student’s writing and while at first was gratified that the prose and ideas were sophisticated and mature eventually became suspicious and did a Google search of the work only to find out it was almost word for word like a newspaper article of a few weeks back. The confrontation with the student was acrimonious and unsatisfactory.because the student could not see the issue because she had taken the offending passages from a blog post signed Anonymous.
The ethical issue is pretty plain - a student has taken verbatim someone else’s ideas and basically( especially these days) has done a copy and paste without acknowledging the source of the work and more to the point passing it off as their own. I have had to address these issues in my own practice and without doubt it is very difficult. At times a quick Google Search has shown up an IMDb site for film analysis or a newspaper opinion piece for a transactional piece of writing. This can be dealt with fairly smartly. The offending student is questioned about their writing methods, how they gathered any evidence, where from etc. Then the site material is presented and more often than not the student owns up, and in accordance with the school plagiarism policy, they are dealt with.
It’s more difficult is a Google Search does not turn up anything. An example is a student turns in a piece of writing but is not able to show any process, drafting or rough copies but says he just wrote what came into his head. My understanding is that evidence is needed before a student can be accused of plagiarism. Since no evidence can be found but the writing is too good for this particular student going on past writing there is a dilemma.
Our school policy is clear about the procedure. The following is from our assessment procedures handbook which is given to students:
“In the first instance the teacher is to discuss the rule breach with the student and make him/her aware of the process that will be followed. The teacher will then approach the HOLA/HOD who will discuss the rule breach and meet with the student concerned. The HOLA/HOD will then consult with the Principal’s Nominee who will consider the circumstances and, if necessary, gather any further information required. The PN will make a recommendation to the Principal whose decision is final. At each level, the decision is communicated back to the student and the student’s parent or caregiver.
Process involved:-
Student Teacher HOLA/HOD Principal’s Nominee Principal
Possible breaches of the rules include plagiarism, impersonation, false declarations of authenticity, using notes or other forms of cheating in exam or test situations, communicating with others, disruption, dishonestly assisting or hindering others, and any other similar practices.
Where a student has been found to have breached the rules a ‘Not Achieved’ grade must be reported for the assessment of that standard.
The Principal's Nominee must allow the candidate an opportunity to make an explanation and will decide on any disciplinary action to be taken in accordance with the school's written procedures.
Candidates have the right to appeal any decision made by the school relating to any possible breaches of the rules under the school's documented appeal process.”
The above issue is an ethical issue and has become more commonplace in recent times. The course of action to be implemented has to be worked out with guidance from the Ministry by each school.
References:
Sassi, E. E. T. and K. (2011). An Ethical Dilemma: Talking about Plagiarism and Academic Integrity in the Digital Age. English Journal 100.6 (2011): 47–53, 47–53(100.6).
Wendy Sutherland-Smith Monash University, A., & Sue Saltmarsh Charles Sturt University, A. (n.d.). Plagiarism, ethics and education: where to now?
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed reading your post from a secondary school perspective. I teach in a primary school and we have similar issues when undertaking research- however it is normally quite easy to tell because there is often a vast difference between the child's writing in literacy time to what they produce during inquiry time. W do teach about plagiarism but form reading your post it seems like when the stress of exams hits students try to bend the rules! I agree that schools need support from the Ministry to help combat this issue.