Definition of malpractice
Malpractice means any act, default, or practice (whether deliberate or resulting from neglect or default) that is a breach of Qualifications Scotland requirements, including any act, default or practice that:
- compromises, attempts to compromise, or may compromise, the process of assessment, the integrity of any Qualifications Scotland qualification, or the validity of a result or certificate; and/or
- damages the authority, reputation, or credibility of Qualifications Scotland or any officer, employee, or agent of Qualifications Scotland.
Malpractice can arise for a variety of reasons:
- Some incidents are intentional and aim to give an unfair advantage or disadvantage in an examination or assessment (deliberate non-compliance).
Examples might include:
- completing assessment work on behalf of learners; or
- falsification of information leading to certification
- Some incidents of malpractice are unintentional. Qualifications Scotland defines unintentional malpractice as 'maladministration', which includes incidents that arise due to ignorance of Qualifications Scotland requirements, carelessness, or neglect in applying the requirements.
Examples might include:
- seeking approval to offer a new qualification after the deadline for new approval applications has passed; or
- requesting late certification of learners after a regulated qualification's certification end date
Malpractice can include both deliberate non-compliance with Qualifications Scotland requirements and maladministration in the assessment and delivery of Qualifications Scotland qualifications.
Siam University is committed to the development, implementation, and monitoring of policies and procedures to minimise any opportunity for malpractice, including in relation to:
- design of assessments
- security of assessment materials
- assessment delivery and completion of assessments
- quality assurance of assessment
- authentication of candidate evidence
- management of candidate assessment data; and
- management of the centre's administrative systems
Examples of Candidate Malpractice may include:
- Breaching the security of assessment materials in a way that threatens the integrity of any exam or assessment, including the early and unauthorised removal of a question paper or answer booklet from the examination room.
- Collusion with others when an assessment must be completed by individual candidates.
- Copying from another candidate (including using ICT to do so) and/or working collaboratively with other candidates on an individual task.
- Misconduct — inappropriate behaviour in an assessment room that is disruptive and/or disrespectful to others. This includes talking, shouting, and/or aggressive behaviour or language, and having a prohibited electronic device that emits any kind of sound in the assessment room.
- Frivolous content — producing content that is unrelated to the assessment.
- Offensive content — content in assessment materials that includes vulgarity and swearing that is out of place with the assessment, or any material that is discriminatory in nature (including discrimination in relation to the protected characteristics identified in the Equality Act 2010). This should not be read as inhibiting candidates' rights to freedom of expression.
- Personation — assuming the identity of another candidate or a candidate having someone assume their identity during an assessment.
- Plagiarism — failure to acknowledge sources properly and/or the submission of another person's work as if it were the candidate's own.
- Prohibited items — items that candidates must not have with them at their allocated seat in the exam room because they can give an unfair advantage, including: mobile phones; electronic devices such as an MP3 player, iPod, tablet, smartwatch or any other device that is web-enabled or stores information; books, notes, sketches or paper; pencil case; calculator case; calculator or dictionary (except in specified subjects) — unless any of these things have been approved by Qualifications Scotland as part of an assessment arrangement.
Examples of Centre/ staff malpractice may include, but are not limited to:
- managers or others exerting undue pressure on staff to pass candidates who have not met the requirements for an award
- deliberate falsification of records in order to claim certificates
- excessive direction from assessors to candidates on how to meet national standards
- failure to assess internally assessed unit or course assessment work fairly,
- failure to apply specified Qualifications Scotland assessment conditions in assessments, such as limits on resources or time available to candidates to complete their assessments
- misuse of assessments, including repeated re-assessment contrary to requirements, or inappropriate adjustments to assessment decisions
- failure to apply appropriate processes to ensure fairness in the provision of assessment arrangements
- insecure storage, transmission, or use of assessment instruments, materials, and marking instructions, resulting in a breach of assessment security
- failure to comply with requirements for accurate and safe retention of candidate evidence, assessment, and internal verification records
- failure to comply with Qualifications Scotland's procedures for managing and transferring accurate candidate data
- failing to register candidates within a qualification's accreditation period
- making late registrations to the awarding body for qualifications in their lapsing period
- requesting late certification of learners after the certification end date
- for all Qualifications Scotland qualifications, failure by a centre to notify, investigate, and report allegations of suspected centre malpractice to Qualifications Scotland
- deliberately withholding information about circumstances which may compromise the integrity and/or credibility of any Qualifications Scotland qualification
- failure to take action as required by Qualifications Scotland or to co-operate with a Qualifications Scotland investigation in relation to concerns of malpractice
- for qualifications subject to regulation by Qualification Scotland Accreditation, Ofqual, or Qualifications Wales, failure by a centre to notify, investigate, and report to Qualifications Scotland allegations of suspected candidate malpractice
How to report concerns about malpractice
Any candidate or staff member can report suspected cases of malpractice. You can raise your concern by speaking to either contact below:
Investigating Suspected Malpractice
All concerns of possible malpractice will be seriously considered, and any investigation will be fair, robust and in proportion to the nature of the concern. We will conduct investigations in line with Qualifications Scotland's Standards for Devolved Investigations.
All reports of suspected malpractice will be investigated by the Quality Assurance Coordinator. Investigations into suspected malpractice will be undertaken impartially and assessed only against the specific facts/evidence of the case. All investigations will be undertaken in the strictest confidence. All materials collected as part of an investigation will be kept secure and will not be disclosed to any third parties (other than the awarding body, regulator or police, where appropriate or in certain circumstances the candidate's employer)
To investigate reports of suspected malpractice, the Head of the Center/Dean of International College may:
- Review assessment evidence and records
- Interview candidates
- Interview assessors and other members of staff
- Seek a second opinion from an internal verifier or other qualified member of staff.
Communicating outcomes
Outcomes of investigations into malpractice will be communicated in writing to the candidate or member of staff under investigation within 20 working days of the findings.
Other interested parties (assessors, data management administrator, line manager, or candidate's employer, etc.) will be informed of outcomes in writing once the candidate has been informed.
Actions to be taken & Measures to be applied if malpractice is proven
Any actions to be taken as a result of malpractice being proven through investigation will be specified clearly in the written feedback on the outcome of the investigation.
Depending on the severity of the malpractice, possible measures and/or disciplinary actions may include, but are not limited to:
- Candidate receiving a written warning
- Candidate assessment receiving a warning with revision of marks
- Candidate removal from the course
- Staff-written warnings
- Staff dismissal
Candidates involved in an investigation of malpractice (whether candidate or centre malpractice) will not be resulted for the assessments in question until the investigation is completed, the outcome decided, and any appeal concluded.
Appeals against malpractice decisions
Appeals should be submitted in writing to the Qualifications Scotland co-ordinator within 10 working days of the original decision.
Appeals will be reviewed by the Head of the Center, and candidates will be informed within 5 working days of the result.
Appeals to Qualifications Scotland
Siam University has the right to appeal a decision where a case of reported malpractice by our centre has been confirmed through investigation by Qualifications Scotland.
We also have the right to appeal a decision in the case of suspected malpractice by a candidate reported by our centre to Qualifications Scotland.
Candidates have the right to appeal to Qualifications Scotland where:
- our centre has conducted an investigation, the candidate disagrees with the outcome and has exhausted our centre's appeals process,
- our centre has conducted an investigation, and the candidate disagrees with the outcome and has exhausted our centre's appeals process,
- Qualifications Scotland has asked our centre to conduct an investigation and the candidate disagrees with
For regulated qualifications only:
Our centre and our candidates have the right to request a review by the appropriate regulator (Qualifications Scotland Accreditation, Ofqual, or Qualifications Wales) of the awarding body's process in deciding an appeal of a malpractice decision.
Record retention
Where an investigation of suspected malpractice is carried out, we will retain related records and documentation for three years for non-regulated qualifications and six years for regulated qualifications. Records will include any work of the candidate, and assessment or verification records relevant to the investigation.
In the case of an appeal to Qualifications Scotland against the outcome of a malpractice investigation, assessment records will be retained for six years.
In an investigation involving a potential criminal prosecution or civil claim, records and documentation will be retained for six years after the case and any appeal has been heard. If there is any doubt about whether criminal or civil proceedings will take place, we will keep records for the full six-year period.
Reporting Malpractice to Qualifications Scotland
Any suspected cases of centre malpractice must be reported to Qualifications Scotland as soon as we have carried out an initial screening exercise to establish the nature of the concern. This includes any concerns where we take the view that no further action is necessary.
We must inform Qualifications Scotland of any investigation carried out by an awarding body, industry body, funding agency or regulator which may or may not affect the delivery of Qualifications Scotland qualifications.
We must also promptly bring to Qualifications Scotland's attention any findings of centre malpractice or maladministration communicated to us by another awarding or industry body. We must notify Qualifications Scotland promptly if another awarding body removes approval from our centre, regardless of the reason given for this withdrawal.
Qualifications Scotland expects centres to bring candidate malpractice concerns for internal assessments to their attention only if:
- the concern came to our centre's attention after the submission of internal assessment marks
- the concern relates to candidate malpractice for a qualification regulated by Qualifications Scotland Accreditation, Ofqual or Qualifications Wales
- a candidate affected by a malpractice decision, who has exhausted their right of appeal within our centre, wishes to exercise their right of appeal to Qualifications Scotland; or
- there are other exceptional circumstances, eg we believe that the malpractice case involves a criminal act (if the malpractice involves a criminal act the matter must also be reported to the police)