Academic Misconduct (including plagiarism)
The fairness of the assessment process relies heavily on the proper conduct of the learner.
It is the responsibility of the Learner to complete assessments according to the instructions given by the tutor. On many of our certified programmes the full assessment will be completed during the programme, usually involving a skills demonstration and a written exam. On other programmes there will be a written exam plus an assignment (which must be completed in the learner’s own time, after the programme has finished). Further guidance will be given by the tutor as required. The learner must confirm that the assessment presented is their own work when submitting their work on our Moodle platform. Via Moodle, the submitted work is scanned by an anti-plagiarism tool, Similarity(Turnitin).
The protection of the integrity of assessment is essential to good training quality assurance. Academic misconduct may include plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, or any other form of academic cheating (e.g., impersonation, collusion, illicit use of third-party services inter alia.)
FPTS management, tutors and learners all have a role to play in ensuring that assessment is fair and consistent.
The following definition of plagiarism will clarify what FPTS considers plagiarism to mean.
“Plagiarism occurs when someone
- Uses words, ideas, or work products
- Attributable to another identifiable person or source
- Without attributing the work to the source from which it was obtained
- In a situation in which there is a legitimate expectation of original authorship
- In order to obtain some benefit, credit, or gain which need not be monetary”
(sic. QQI Guidelines)
To mitigate the risk of any form of academic conduct FPTS ensures that:
- Learners are aware of what constitutes academic misconduct
- Robust invigilation procedures are in place
- Tutors exercise good judgement, and
- Technological aids are used by FPTS where appropriate (e.g., anti-plagiarism checks using Turnitin (Similarity) which screens all assignment submissions for plagiarism and use of AI tools.
Where academic misconduct by a learner is suspected, the following applies:
- The learner may be required to participate in an oral (viva voce) defence of their assessment
- The Assessor/Tutor will decide whether an infringement has been detected and the level (i.e. minor or material). For minor infringements, the Assessor/Tutor may caution the learner or require them to resubmit a complete or partial assessment, alternatively, they may apply a penalty mark appropriate to the perceived level of infringement. In the case of material infringement, they will refer the matter to the Centre Manager for judgement. The Centre Manager may decide to allow a reassessment, endorse the proposed penalty mark, or remove the learner from the programme without recourse, and without certification for the programme
- The Assessor/Tutor (or Centre Manager) will provide the learner with a written description of the infringement detected and the censure to be applied
- If the learner wishes to appeal the decision of the Centre Manager, the Academic Council will hear the appeal and make a judgement. The decision of the Academic Council is final.