Walden’s Path School Academic Honesty Policy
Honesty is the foundation in our lives in and out of school. It reminds us that principled people “act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them”. Our policies and practices regarding academic honesty stem from this philosophy and Walden’s Path School mission to prepare students for lifelong learning further inspires us to meet the highest standards of ethical practice.
Academic honesty and the development of the skills to know what this is and how to avoid it is an essential part of learning.
In particular, this relates to being:
Principled – acting with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. Take responsibility for your own actions and the consequences that accompany them i.e. acknowledging others work and not taking it as your own.
Reflective – giving thoughtful consideration to your own learning and experience is also an important attribute in relation to academic honesty.
Demonstrating academic honesty means that all of the work you have submitted is original. In other words, it was created by you and reflects your individual ideas and effort. When we submit work that is not our own, we are plagiarising. Plagiarism is unfair to other students and yourself because it denies you an opportunity to learn. It is also a violation of trust between you and the teacher. Plagiarism includes copying from a classmate or friend or copying directly from written sources without paraphrasing or citing the source of the information.
Walden’s Path students often work collaboratively, and they are encouraged to solve problems together in small groups. However, in order to foster a healthy, productive, cooperative learning community, we expect that all students will live by a few key principles. The below is expected to be discussed in class as part of the Essential Agreement in an age-appropriate manner:
- Students give credit to other people working in a group and to other people or resources that helped them in their work.
- Students do not copy the work of others, nor do they submit work that is not fully their own.
- When appropriate to a project or task, students reference sources according to the conventions or bibliographic formats they learn in class and through the library program.
Walden’s Path School will teach what academic dishonesty is and point out ways to avoid violations. It will teach students how to cite the work of others and make students aware of the consequences that arise as a result.
It is ultimately the responsibility of the students to ensure that they are abiding by the academic honesty policy. Students are responsible for learning to incorporate properly and consistently cite intellectual property into their work in accordance with the directions provided.
The Role of Parents/Guardians
The parents/guardians are responsible for making themselves familiar with and upholding the Academic Honesty policy of the school. They should be promoting the integrity of education at home as well and be aware of the consequences of academic dishonesty as outlined below:
Consequences for Academic Dishonesty
Level 1:
In cases of lower-level plagiarism occurring in assignments plagiarizing work of others, the individual teacher must determine the source of the material in question and meet with the student.
The teacher may choose among the following consequences:
- Mark only the work genuinely was done by the student
- Have the work in question re-done by the student
- Parents may be notified
Level 2:
In more serious cases of deliberate plagiarism, for instance, on a major project/presentation or in cases of cheating in a test, the facilitator should be notified and the Head of School will be consulted. Parents will be contacted and make suitable remarks in their school records.
Level 3:
With repetition of academic honesty offences, the school will decide on extended actions to be taken which in grave instances may leave to expulsion from Walden’s Path School.
*Reviewed and approved on 1 Feb 2020.