TOKYO WEST INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICYn

Introduction
The Academic Honor Code (academic honesty) is the school’s commitment to observe, practice,and pursue the highest degree of ethical integrity and honesty in academic conduct. It is anindividual and collective commitment that students shall not cheat, lie, or plagiarize to gain an
academic advantage over fellow students or gain undeserved academic merit in all their academic
requirements.

nRationale
The Academic Integrity Policy aims to create an environment where academic integrity and its
resulting behavior can be practiced.
The basis of the policy is stems from Tokyo West International School’s vision and mission of
producing students with lifelong skills, competence, and an inner strength of character; and theattributes valued by IB World Schools that are represented in the IB Learner Profile that includes:•

Knowledgeable - understand the concept of intellectual property rights• Inquirers - develop skills for research and inquiry• Caring - respect the ideas of others utilize them appropriately, and give them appropriate
recognition• Reflective - understand one’s self and work on personal development• Open-minded - appreciate information coming from different sources• Thinkers - analyze information and use it in making reasoned, ethical decisions• Communicators - express perspectives in various ways to other people• Balanced - obtain information from different sources and viewing different angles topreventing bias
• Risk-takers - explore new ideas and strategies and be resilient in the face of challenges
and change• Principled - act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, andwith respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere
Moreover, it aims to establish standards of academic conduct and to provide a procedure thatassures fair and just treatment to any student accused of violating the rules and upholding the letterand spirit of the code. Ultimately, the Academic Honor Code aims to promote a culture of excellence
where the students can be formed to hold on to their dreams and climb for it.

nAcademic Integrity
Students of Tokyo West International School shall demonstrate competence and inner strength ofcharacter, uphold the attributes of the IB Learner Profile; and observe, practice, and pursue thehighest degree of intellectual honesty and integrity in academic conduct by not choosing to cheat,lie, or plagiarize in accomplishing any academic work.

Tokyo West International School
185Umetsubo-machi, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0013 TEL:042-691-1441/FAX:042-691-1442
Website:www.tokyowest.jp

TOKYO WEST INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLA.

Cheating

Cheating is defined as the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for academic work throughthe use of dishonest, deceptive, and fraudulent means. Examples of cheating are, but not limited
to, the following:
1. give, receive, or use unauthorized or prohibited information, resources, or assistance inany academic requirement;
2. write take, research, develop, prepare, or create any academic requirement in whole or inpart;
3. prevent or interfere with the use by other students of any library, laboratory, or otheracademic-related resources.
4. damage, destroy, impair, or steal, any library, laboratory, or other academic relatedresources or another student’s academic requirement.
5. copy, in whole or in part, from any student during a test, any academic requirement orcompetition;
6. use or consult, during an examination, any digital sources (e.g. mobile phones, tablets,
laptops, electronic dictionaries, etc.), other students, or any material not authorized by theteacher;
7. purposely allow oneself to be an accomplice of cheating by permitting another student tocopy from one’s work during a test and interfere/or interfere with grading done on any
academic requirement or as seen on the school report or any grading document/record;
8. commit other acts of fraud and deceit;
9. steal and/or sell copies of tests and/or any instruments of evaluation; or 10. forge
signatures on any document that require the signature of a person of authority (school
officials, teachers, staff, parents, other students, etc.).
B. Lying
Lying is defined as the act of deceiving, misleading, or confusing another person or group of persons
by saying half-truths or an untruth to gain undue academic advantage or avoid naturalconsequences of any violation against the code for oneself and/or another student. Examples oflying are, but not limited to, the following:
improve one’s grade or academic standing by changing school reports either written or verbal;
1. unjustly accuse any student to gain academic advantage;
2. cast doubt on the integrity of another student, a teacher, staff, or school officials without
evidence, proof, or basis;
3. conjure/make-up false stories to save oneself and/or another student from consequences
as a result of a violation;
4. conjure/make-up stories to mislead, delay, or confuse an investigation of an offense
against the code; or
5. coerce any student to lie during an investigation.

Tokyo West International School
185Umetsubo-machi, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0013 TEL:042-691-1441/FAX:042-691-1442
Website:www.tokyowest.jp

TOKYO WEST INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
C. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the act of representing the work of someone else as one’s own andsubmitting it for any purpose. Examples of plagiarism are, but not limited to, the following:
1. use, quote, or incorporate the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts of anotherperson’s writings without giving appropriate credit, and representing the output as one’sown;
2. represent another’s artistic or scholarly works such as musical compositions, computer
programs, photographs, paintings, drawings, or sculptures as one’s own; 3. allowing
oneself to be an accomplice by permitting another student to plagiarize one’s academicwork;
3. submit a paper or project purchased from a research or term paper service, including theinternet; undocumented web resource usage; or
4. coerce another person to plagiarize and/or submit work in one’s name.
Duplication of work is defined as the act of copying/getting other`s work without his/her knowledge
and submitting the work as your own. Examples of work duplication are, but not limited to, thefollowing:
1. photocopying the work of your classmates and submitting it as your own, 2. presenting andsubmitting of the same or a very similar piece of work for different assessment
components.
E. Collusion
Collusion is defined as the act helping/tolerating your classmates to be academically dishonest.
Examples of collusion are, but not limited to, the following:
1. allowing another student to copy your homework,
2. allowing another students to copy your work or share your answers to an assessment task,
3. allowing another student to use and submit your project for one of his/herclasses,
4. allowing a sibling to use and submit your completed work in a previous year
for one of his/her classes.
TWIS acknowledges the concepts and importance of intellectual property andauthentic authorship. As a school, we have defined intellectual property and authentic
authorship conceptually.
•

Intellectual Property - "Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind:
inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names and images used incommerce Intellectual property is divided into two categories: industrial property, which
includes patents for inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and geographicalindications; and Copyright, which covers literacy works (such as novels, poems and plays),films, music artistic works (e.g., drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures) andarchitectural design. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their
Tokyo West International School
185Umetsubo-machi, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0013 TEL:042-691-1441/FAX:042-691-1442
Website:www.tokyowest.jp

TOKYO WEST INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL•

nperformances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and broadcasters in their radio
and television programs (WIPO)."
Authentic Authorship – An authentic piece of work is one that is based on the author`soriginal ideas and fully acknowledges the ideas and works of others.

Difference of collaboration and collusion

Collaboration is encouraged to the TWIS students and as long as the work is stated as group
work, then this is permitted. However, in some cases, the final work must be produced
independently, despite the fact that it may be based on the same or similar data as other students
in the group. This means that the abstract, introduction, content and summary of the piece of work
must be written in their own words and cannot be the same as another student`s piece of work.
For example, if two or more students have exactly the same introduction to a research paper, thisis collusion (or plagiarism), and not collaboration (IB Academic Honesty, 2011).

n

Citing and Acknowledging Authorship

TWIS has adopted the American Psychological Association (APA) format to ensure consistent andreliable conventions for citing resources in all subjects. All teachers and staff members support theuse of APA and will help all the students to become familiar with this format by providing themlibrary orientation that focuses on citing and referencing/discussing this format during the subject
class orientation.

n

Procedures

When a student is caught, accused, or suspected to have violated the code, the teacher involved
immediately reports to the Discipline Committee. The Discipline Committee will follow theguidelines stated in the TWIS Discipline Policy. A student under investigation shall undergo due
process and will remain innocent until proven otherwise.

nConsequences

When a student is proven guilty after the investigation, sanctions stated in the TWIS Discipline
Policy shall be upheld unless changed, tampered, or refined otherwise by the Discipline
Committee.

nStudent Pledge

The Academic Honor Code Pledge is included in the TWIS Student Handbook and signed by thestudent and their parents. A signed copy of the pledge must be attached to major academic
requirements such as summative assessments, projects, etc.
I do hereby acknowledge the existence of the TWIS Academic Honor Code.

Tokyo West International School
185Umetsubo-machi, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0013 TEL:042-691-1441/FAX:042-691-1442
Website:www.tokyowest.jp

TOKYO WEST INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
I therefore commit myself to exhibit competence and inner strength of character as expected of
a TWIS student; and uphold the attributes in the IB Learner profile by not cheating, lying, andplagiarizing.
I understand that the code is essential in keeping an excellent academic atmosphere as
characterized by the highest degree of integrity and honesty in performing academic tasks.
I understand that choosing to violate the letter and/or spirit of any of the provisions stated in thecode has corresponding consequences, and, therefore, I must be responsible for my actions.
I affix my signature below to confirm my understanding and agreement to all the policies
stated in the code.
Signature over printed namenReinforcement of Academic Integrity
Full implementation of the policy requires a strong collaboration between home and school.
Teachers, students, parents, staff, and school administrators must work together in maintaining an
excellent academic atmosphere in school and promoting integrity and honesty not only in school
but also at home. The measures that will ensure the consistent implementation of the Academic
Honor code are, but not limited to, the following:
1. help the students understand the importance of academic honor in all subjects, especiallyin Homeroom class.
2. help the students learn key terms in the code such as cheating, lying, plagiarizing, honor,
integrity, honesty, etc.
3. inform students about intellectual property rights
4. model good practices of academic honor at home and in school
5. promote ethical research skills in all subjects
6. teach the students proper research and referencing skills during Language class.
7. collaborate with the librarian, IT, and media specialists on developing responsible use oflibrary and IT resources, and proper citing of sources.
8. teach the students to use Creative Commons when gathering information
9. check students’ works for possible plagiarism and improper citation of sources by using
online tools available to students and teachers.
10. encourage the students to use their research and referencing skills by providing more
research opportunitiesn

Review of Academic Honesty Policy

A committee will be formed to review the academic honesty policy. The committee will be comprisedof the Headmistress, IB Coordinator, teachers and staff. The committee will review the current policy,
make revision to current policy if needed and create a plan to communicate the policy to thestakeholders. The academic honesty policy will be reviewed every two years.
Tokyo West International School
185Umetsubo-machi, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0013 TEL:042-691-1441/FAX:042-691-1442
Website:www.tokyowest.jp

TOKYO WEST INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLnReferences

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185Umetsubo-machi, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0013 TEL:042-691-1441/FAX:042-691-1442
Website:www.tokyowest.jp

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185Umetsubo-machi, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0013 TEL:042-691-1441/FAX:042-691-1442
Website:www.tokyowest.jp

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Tokyo West International School
185Umetsubo-machi, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0013 TEL:042-691-1441/FAX:042-691-1442
Website:www.tokyowest.jp