Academic Integrity Policy

Last revision: July 2026
Next Review: May 2027

1.  RATIONALE & PURPOSE

This Academic Integrity Policy creates a culture of learning and provides clear direction to the whole school community about expected behaviour. This policy outlines the school’s commitment to the development of good practices and sound procedures, and will be shared with the school community.

The main aims of the Academic Integrity Policy are:

• Establish procedures, expectations, responsibilities and good practices that deal fairly with individual breaches of academic integrity.
• Establish a common understanding for the whole school community about the nature of academic integrity. To develop good practices and the promotion of academic integrity across the school developing students’ skills gradually.
• To represent the school principles of creating a principled school culture.
• To motivate and improve students’ learning outcomes through assessments.
• To maintain fairness, trust, clarity and credibility and develop respect for others and their intellectual property.

Amman Academy Academic Integrity Policy aligns with the IB Approaches to Learning (ATL’s), nurturing the essential skills required for responsible learning. It underscores that academic integrity is not merely a school principle, but a lifelong skill that students will carry with them into their future lives and careers. At Amman Academy we expect our whole community, students, faculty, staff, parents and the board to behave honestly and with integrity.

This policy, at its core, reflects Amman Academy’s overarching vision to ‘Fostering global citizens by providing a quality and meaningful learning experience’. The IB learner profile traits are seamlessly woven into all teaching and learning activities at Amman Academy, where both educators and our broader community embrace the value of integrity. ATL skills are explicitly taught, and our students learn to be principled, effective communicators, and critical thinkers.

2.  REGULATORY & STANDARDS REFERENCE

3.  SCOPE

Applies to:  All students, staff, board members, volunteers and parents at Amman Academy. This policy refers to all assignments set and completed in school or at home, ranging from basic pieces of homework, individual assignments, group work, written examinations, oral exams, video tasks, internet activities to formal coursework assessments, within examination requirements.

Does not apply to:  N/A. The policy applies to all members of the Amman Academy community without exception.

4.  DEFINITIONS

• Academic Misconduct:  A behaviour (whether deliberate or inadvertent) that results in, or may result in, the student or any other student gaining an unfair advantage (or a behaviour that disadvantages other students) in one or more assessment components. (IBO: 2023)
• Plagiarism:  The representation, intentionally or unintentionally, of the ideas, words or work of another person without proper, clear and explicit acknowledgement. (IBO: 2023)
• Collusion and collaboration:  When one person supports academic dishonest behaviour of another person, for example by allowing someone to copy their work; working in groups while using other people’s work without participating equally in the group work; the use of external help to create one’s work; or the use of an external person/tutor who is not approved by the school as an official supervisor for DP coursework.
• Fabrication, duplication or non-authentic work:  Inventing one’s own information or data, adding fake citations or references; duplication of work from one assessment to another; materials downloaded from the internet and presented as one’s own; falsifying a signature; copying others’ work (for example, homework or formative assessments).
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools:  Generative AI software used to produce text, graphs, video or images. Amman Academy does not regard any work produced by AI tools to be the work of a student or teacher; any AI-generated output must be referenced appropriately. AI may be used similarly to a search engine but never as a substitute for a student’s own work. AI use is not permitted in language acquisition assessments where marks are provided for sentence structures.
• Approaches to Learning (ATL):  IB-defined skills developed to support academic honesty, specifically competencies in self-management, research and communication. (IBO: 2023)
• Authentic work:  Work that is fully acknowledged, created in an academically honest manner, and represents the genuine effort and ideas of the named author.
• Turn It In:  The school-adopted plagiarism detection platform used by faculty and students to verify the authenticity of submitted work.

5.  POLICY STATEMENTS

5.1   Core Principle:  Amman Academy is committed to fostering a culture of academic integrity, aligned with the IB Approaches to Learning (ATL) and the IB learner profile, in which academic integrity is treated as a key part of curriculum planning, supports the creation of authentic student work, develops every student’s potential, and enables every member of the community to embody ethical and moral codes of conduct.

In support of this principle, Amman Academy commits to:

• Teaching skills and attributes for lifelong learning across all years. This enables students to become global citizens that embody ethical and moral codes of conduct in their lives for the benefit of society.
• Integrity is a key component of students’ academic experiences. By demonstrating honest behaviour our students will follow our example.
• An awareness that those who violate academic integrity gain an unfair advantage and negatively impact others.

Academic integrity is a key part of our curriculum planning and will help our students to create authentic work, and faculty to develop a creative and challenging learning environment. It will help to develop every student’s potential.

Our curriculum and policy:

• Teaches a structured way to research and communicate ideas that validates the product and process.
• Encourages academic habits that lead to a greater variety of research methodology, trans-disciplinary skills and encourages critical literacy.
• Encourages students to question, analyse and adapt ideas from various sources.
• Ensures students are entitled to a fair and unbiased examination of their work, and to objective grading of their performances. This leads to a fair assessment for all.
• Helps to develop a respect for others through an understanding that is acceptable to use the ideas, words or work of others in a way that is appropriately acknowledged worldwide.
• Ensures ethical practices maintain trust and credibility amongst the community and maintain fairness for all its members.

5.2   Requirement:  All members of the Amman Academy community (students, staff, board members, volunteers and parents) must observe the following standards of conduct:

• All students and staff should understand the basic meaning and importance of academic integrity and follow practices and procedures relevant to their age and IB programme (PYP, MYP or DP).
• All students and staff should be able to recognize and understand academic integrity practices as taught through both the formal curriculum and pastoral programs.
• All members of the community should produce ‘authentic’ pieces of work fully acknowledged and created in an academically honest manner.
• All members of the community should understand and obey the rules and regulations relating to proper conduction of examinations.
• All members of the community should understand the procedures and sanctions that will follow if there is suspicion of violation of the protocols of the academic integrity policy, and the subsequent consequences and imposed penalties if found guilty.

5.2.1   Recognised Forms of Academic Misconduct:  The following behaviours are considered breaches of academic integrity at Amman Academy. All forms listed below follow IB regulations.

Plagiarism

• Intent does not affect whether something is seen as plagiarism, according to the IB.
• Copying pieces of art, music or coding is also considered plagiarism. It may even be a reproduction of an original work, oral or written words or ideas in examinations.
• Direct or adaptations of translations from other languages without reference is also considered plagiarism.
• Ideas and work of others is their intellectual property in the same way their possessions are their property. Taking someone else’s ideas and presenting them as your own is theft.
• Duplication of work: the presentation of the same work for different assessment components and/or assessment requirements.
• Any other behaviour that gains an unfair advantage for a student or that affects the results of another student. For example, taking unauthorised material into an examination room, is considered misconduct during an examination.

Collusion and collaboration

• When one person supports academic dishonest behaviour of another person. For example, by allowing someone to copy your work.
• When working in groups while you are using other people’s work without participating equally in the group work.
• The use of external help to create your work.
• The use of an external person/tutor who is not approved by the school as an official supervisor for DP course work.

Fabrication, duplication or non-authentic work

• Inventing your own information or data, adding fake citations or references.
• Duplication of work from one assessment to another.
• Materials downloaded from the internet and presented as your own.
• Falsifying a signature.
• Copying others’ work (for example, homework or formative assessments).

Misconduct during coursework, summative tasks or external examinations

• Copying of others’ work.
• Falsifying any official record (for example, CAS experiences).
• Making up data for research.
• Stealing examination papers.
• Discussion of the content of an exam with a person outside the examination room within 24 hours of the end of the examination.
• Taking unauthorised materials into an examination room.
• Disrupting during an exam.
• Exchanging information about the content of exams.
• Using an unauthorised calculator during examinations.
• Failing to follow the instructions of the invigilator or school staff for examinations.
• All the above follow IB regulations.

5.2.2   Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools:  The main goal of the Academic Integrity Policy is to ensure thinking, knowledge and understanding are transparently presented and therefore assessed. The opportunity given by AI technology to strengthen work does not stop the requirement for academic integrity. Worldwide there is an ongoing discussion about the role of AI in schools, and there is a great ‘temptation’ placed in students’ practices for misconduct. At Amman Academy we currently believe:

• AI tools do not have to threaten the underlying principles of academic integrity. AI can be used in an ethical manner; however, Amman Academy does not regard any work produced by AI tools to be the work of a student or teacher. It must be absolutely clear that any AI-generated text, graph, video or picture has been copied from AI software and MUST be referenced appropriately.
• AI can be used similar to search engines, to find research materials to help shape ideas and arguments. They can not be substitutes for students’ own work.
• The exception is for students in language acquisition assessments where marks are provided for sentence structures. The use of AI tools in this situation is NOT PERMITTED. (Garodia: 2023)
• In situations where a teacher suspects AI use, the teacher is expected to check student work through ‘Turn it In’ and verify its authenticity. This is clear by tracking and observing how students’ work has developed over time. Work that may suggest misconduct will be investigated.

5.3   Compliance:  Non-compliance with this policy will be investigated and sanctioned in accordance with the procedures set out below. Any consequence for student academic misconduct will be given as a result of a thorough investigation, conducted fairly, discreetly and with transparency, protecting the rights of all parties involved. The IB office will be consulted if any unprecedented incidents occur outside the scope of this policy.

5.3.1   Student Rights in Case of Suspected Academic Misconduct:  Students are ultimately responsible for ensuring work submitted is authentic. Once the work is submitted the teacher will review the work. Sanctions will be considered according to age. The following list outlines the possible procedures if suspicion of academic misconduct occurs. Any consequence for student academic misconduct will be given as a result of a thorough investigation.

The IB expects students to know what is and is not acceptable behaviour in the examination room, and expects students to know how to indicate and cite material originally developed by others. For these reasons, a student’s intent cannot be taken into account when investigating an alleged breach of the General Regulations: Diploma Programme (IBO, 2014).

5.3.2   Consequences of Misconduct for Summative Tasks:  When an MYP/DP student is involved in academic misconduct, the incident will be documented formally and recorded in the student’s file.

For PYP Students (Years 3–6):  PYP students are still learning and growing; intention and year level will be considered.

Examples of Misconduct for PYP:

Copy/pasting from the internet,  failing to credit a source,  copying work from another student, and/or cheating on an exam.

For MYP/DP Students:  Please see the table below for more details.

Notes:

• All investigations will be carried out fairly, discreetly and with transparency, protecting the rights of all parties involved.
• The IB office will be consulted if any unprecedented incidents occur outside the scope of this policy.

6.  ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

6.1   Whole School Responsibilities

There is not such a thing as ‘accidental academic misconduct’. Amman Academy strives to maintain a safe environment, characterised by ongoing teacher professional development, a steadfast commitment to nurturing academic integrity, and proactive support for student learning. In our pursuit of maintaining consistency and fairness, we will diligently maintain centralised records of all incidents and their corresponding consequences.

It is the school’s responsibility to:

• Sharing information is a collective responsibility, and all faculty members are expected to act in accordance with these regulations. School executives and coordinators hold primary responsibility for ensuring that all staff receive accurate, up-to-date information regarding examination procedures and coursework requirements, and for ensuring that these requirements are fully implemented. They will ensure that all such policies and procedures are carried out fairly and consistently. Specific IB requirements are detailed in their documentation and updated yearly.
• Ensure that academic integrity, study skills and citations/references skills are taught across the curriculum throughout the school. These skills are to be developed in a progressive manner from year level to year level, to be age and programme appropriate. Students will take part in information sessions conducted before examinations and at the outset of both the DP and MYP programmes.
• Introduce students about how breaches of academic integrity will be investigated outlining corresponding sanctions.
• Ensure that students sign academic integrity contracts outlining the policies set by school and the IB.
• Ensure that all faculty reinforce these skills within their subject areas by promoting academic integrity practices and awareness.
• Ensure that all teachers are following the school’s MLA 9th edition reference system.
• Ensure that faculty and students are trained in the proper use of ‘Turn it In’ and the detection of potential plagiarism.
• Ensure promotion of academic integrity policy amongst parents, students and staff.
• Ensure consistent practices among staff.
• Articulate and carry out sanction applied to incidents in the breach of the policy.
• Report any issues, investigations and consequences formally to parents.
• Review the practices and understanding of academic integrity throughout the school annual review cycle by the school leadership team.

Our dedicated librarian will play a vital role in this endeavour by actively assisting both teachers and students in the acquisition of ethical research skills, including proper source citation. Moreover, we are committed to providing access to a multitude of reliable resources, with the librarian assuming the important responsibility of promoting these resources within our school community. Additionally, the librarian will serve as a bridge to parents, facilitating open communication on a variety of topics related to academic integrity.

Amman Academy will make sure that:

• The school’s academic integrity policy is aligned with all IB expectations and will undergo a regular yearly review cycle, as stated in the Amman Academy Review Policy.
• Teachers, students and legal guardians are aware of school and IB requirements concerning academic integrity.
• Students and invigilators (proctors) are provided with relevant information about examination regulations.

6.2   Faculty, Teacher and Coordinator Responsibilities

Teachers are responsible to ensure that teaching and learning is conducted with academic integrity. All teachers are responsible for determining levels of academic integrity with students they teach, being good role models at all times.

All Amman Academy teachers will:

• Provide clear instructions, guidance and requirements for each task, providing students with the tools and skills required to conduct suitable research, recognising the ideas and work of others.
• Devote time to learn, teach and practice referencing and citation skills across the whole curriculum.
• Authenticate students’ work whenever required. Amman Academy will ask teachers to confirm that to the best of their knowledge, all candidates’ work accepted and submitted for assessment is authentic of each student.
• Design assignments that do not lend themselves to academic misconduct.
• Ensure students are following school requirements in relation to MLA 9 referencing.
• Ensure students submit draft work, and with the assistance of teachers, identify areas where they have not cited correctly before submitting their final copy.
• Use plagiarism detection tools such as Turn it In when assessing student work.
• Ensure that reasonable deadlines are set by the relevant coordinators and communicate this through the Internal Assessment calendar. Formal deadlines can only be extended in exceptional circumstances by the coordinator, and should be requested prior to submission date. Supporting evidence may be requested.
• Bring to the attention of coordinators and counsellor, students who are deemed to be of concern for academic reasons, or are under stress or at risk of breaching academic integrity.
• Be vigilant in identifying potentially academic dishonesty practices amongst students and taking action to educate students and report to their coordinators directly. From year 9 and above any suspected dishonesty practice should be reported immediately to the coordinator for action (see procedures).
• Be a role model by ensuring all materials (handouts, presentations, tasks etc.) are correctly referenced and sourced ethically.
• Model academic integrity in finding teaching resources.

6.3   Student Responsibilities

Approaches to Learning [ATL] skills are developed to support academic honesty, specifically in developing competencies in self-management, research and communication (IBO: 2023).

PYP Years 1–2 Students:

• Should understand that ideas and facts come from sources and are not their own.
• Should begin to understand and practice paraphrasing.

PYP Years 3–6 Students:

• Should understand copyright rules.
• Should understand the concept of referencing their sources.
• Should understand the concept of academic integrity and the future consequences.
• Should not be allowed to use artificial intelligence tools unless permission is given.

MYP/DP Students:

• Should appreciate that academic integrity is the responsibility of each individual.
• Should ensure all work submitted is their own.
• Should ensure all pieces of work have accurate MLA 9 citations.
• Should follow instructions of the teacher for submitting draft and final work.
• Should use Turn it In for all summative work including work that has to be marked externally.
• Should contact their teachers if they are unsure about the nature of academic integrity, and how they carry out the requirements for projects or examinations.
• Should contact their teacher, coordinator or counsellor if they feel stressed or overwhelmed by their school work.

6.4   Parents Responsibilities

Parents are expected to take an active role in supporting and helping their children achieve their full potential, and acting with integrity by becoming familiar with the Academic Integrity Policy. Parents should support teachers by talking to their children about the importance of academic integrity and cooperating with the school in case their child is found to be in breach of academic misconduct.

Parents should:

• Understand the Amman Academy Academic Integrity Policy.
• Encourage their child to follow good academic practices.
• Encourage their child to plan each assignment. (As last minute stress can lead to academic misconduct.)
• Provide support with the scheduling of their work, as their child may have many assignments to complete at various stages. Let them do their own work, but may assist with planning.
• Understand the consequences and sanctions that will apply to academic disintegrity and cooperate in the investigation of suspected cases of academic misconduct.
• Establish a good level of communication with the school so that they understand the requirements of the programmes and what is expected of students.
• Be aware that if they use external tutors to support their child’s learning, they cannot be used to help with the completion of summative or examination tasks.
• Contact the school when they feel their child needs additional support.

7.  EXCEPTIONS & WAIVERS

Exceptions are not permitted under this policy. All members of the community are bound to its provisions without exception.

Authority to grant exceptions:  N/A: exceptions are not permitted.

Process:  N/A: exceptions are not permitted.

Documentation:  N/A: exceptions are not permitted.

8.  RELATED DOCUMENTS

• Refer to the Amman Academy Review Policy for the annual policy review cycle.
• Refer to the Amman Academy Parent–Student Handbook.
• Refer to the Modern Language Association (MLA) 9th edition referencing standard used across all coursework.
• Refer to IBO Academic Integrity Policy (March 2023).
• Refer to IBO Academic Honesty in the IB Educational Context (August 2014).
• Refer to IBO General Regulations: Diploma Programme (2014).
• Refer to IBO Programme Standards and Practices (March 2022).
• Refer to the Turn It In platform used for plagiarism detection.
• Refer to the Student Academic Misconduct Report template recorded in the school management system.

9.  DOCUMENT CONTROL & HISTORY

10.  APPROVAL

APPENDICES

Appendix 1:  Bibliography

Carrol, J. (2016) Academic Honesty in the IB educational context pg.12.

Citation Machine. “The Complete Guide to MLA & Citations.” Citation Machine: Modern Language Association 8th Edition Format Citation Generator for Journal Article, Chegg, 2018, www.citationmachine.net/mla/cite-a-website.

“Comparative Literature: Manage Citations – MLA Style.” Yale University Library Research Guides, Yale University, 20 Dec. 2017, guides.library.yale.edu/c.php?g=295913&p=1972962

EasyBib. “How to Cite Anything in MLA 8th Edition Format.” EasyBib, Chegg, 2018, www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/mla-8/.

EasyBib. “MLA Format: Everything You Need to Know Here.” EasyBib, Chegg, 2018, www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/mla-format/.

Garodia International Centre for Learning, Mumbai (2023) Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures.

Garza, Celina. “IB Conference of the Americas 2014.” Academic Honesty – Principals to Practice, 2014. https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/60d1e68eafc7437faf033f8d9f5c6d6d/saturday-academic-honesty-celina-garza.pdf

International Baccalaureate Organization ‘Academic Honesty: Diploma Programme’, 2014.

International Baccalaureate Organization “Academic Honesty in the IB Educational Context.” Aug. 2014, www.ibo.org/globalassets/digital-tookit/brochures/academic-honesty-ib-en.pdf. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.

International Baccalaureate Organization, (March 2023) Academic Integrity Policy. IBO, resources.ibo.org/ib/works/edu_11162-58121. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.

“Programme Standards and Practices.” IBO, Mar. 2022, www.ibo.org/globalassets/publications/become-an-ib-school/programme-standards-and-practices-en.pdf. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.

Purdue Writing Lab. “MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics / Purdue Writing Lab.” Purdue Writing Lab, Purdue University, 2018, owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html

“What Are Primary Sources?”. UC Irvine Libraries, The Regents of the University of California, 2018, www.lib.uci.edu/what-are-primary-sources.s

“When and How to Use Parenthetical References.” Library Handbook, www.pearl.k12.ms.us/cms/lib/MS01810570/Centricity/Domain/229/how__when_to_use_parenthetical

Appendix 2:  Frequently Asked Questions

Below are common questions asked regarding MLA 9th edition formatting. For a more in depth understanding of MLA 9 formatting please follow the following link or see your school librarian.

What happens if I submit the same work for two different subjects or core components of the programme?

This is academic misconduct in the form of duplication of work. Consequences outlined would apply.

What is quoting (direct and paraphrasing)?

Taking the exact words from an original source is called direct quoting. You should direct quote material when you believe that the way the original author expresses a unique idea that is the most effective means of communicating the point you want to make or the quote is so specific and detailed that it is best left in its original form. See the MLA 9 link for more in depth formatting.

When should I quote?

You should quote when you want to provide indisputable evidence of a claim. Additionally, you should quote an original source when the source explains an idea in the best way possible or in a way that cannot be reworded. See the MLA 9 link for more in depth formatting.

When should I cite the sources where I have obtained my information?

You must cite all original sources used in writing, supporting or creating your research project that is not considered common knowledge or listed below in the “no need” section. You should cite sources that you are using to establish credibility and to produce an effective argument. See the MLA 9 link for more in depth formatting.

When should I paraphrase?

Paraphrasing can be advantageous when a simplification of a complex topic is needed. Paraphrasing is when the writer uses different words to express the ideas of the original author to make it more understandable.

What is the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary sources?

Primary sources are documents, images or artefacts that provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic, usually historical. Primary sources Link to examples.

Secondary sources are works that analyse, review, explain or interpret a historical event, time period or idea. They usually analyse or review primary sources. Secondary source Link to examples.

Tertiary sources provide an overview or summary of a topic and may contain both primary and secondary sources. The information is displayed as straight facts only and does not include analysis, criticism, commentary or exploration. Tertiary sources are sources that identify and locate primary and secondary sources. (e.g. Wikipedia, Encyclopedias, Textbooks…)