Cheating students copied material directly from websites

A NUMBER of cheating students had results withheld for copying material directly from websites and other sources for part of the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP), an analysis of the last two years’ papers revealed.

The State Examinations Commission chief examiners made the observation in a report on the programme’s links module taken by 14,000 students at almost 600 schools in 2004 and 2005. The cheating was found in the portfolio element of the course, worth 60% of total marks and prepared mainly in class over two years.

Candidates are forbidden from using material downloaded directly from websites or copied from other sources.

“Some scripts gave rise to suspicions of copying/plagiarism, necessitating correspondence with a number of schools in both years, resulting in the marks of a number of candidates being withheld this year (2005) and in 2004. Any level of plagiarism/copying can threaten the integrity of the assessment,” the report said.

The State Examinations Commission would not divulge the numbers involved for confidentiality reasons, but they are known to be among 97 Leaving Certificate candidates who had results withheld last year or who have yet to respond to inquiries from the State Examinations Commission.

Grades were also withheld for irregularities in Irish, English, maths, geography, accounting, construction studies and home economics.