We wanted to provide a reminder of the policies and procedures around the use of tools, particularly ones that use Artificial Intelligence (AI), that could provide students with an unfair advantage, resulting in investigation, sanctions, and the possible disqualification of students from external assessments.
Suspected malpractice policies and procedures
We’re aware of how prevalent the use of AI has become in everyday life and over the last few weeks in particular, we've seen an increase in AI being used within assessments, which has resulted in student disqualification. The use of external aids, particularly in relation to spelling, punctuation and grammar, for example, dictionary, spelling and grammar checking software, or other cloud-based or AI tools, is not permitted in any external online assessments. This is in line with JCQ Suspected Malpractice Policies and Procedures.
Your responsibilities before the assessments
For students sitting online assessments, it’s the responsibility of the provider to ensure that all external aids are disabled prior to the assessment taking place, and that your invigilators are aware to look out for these tools being used. If you’re not able to remove external aids on computers which are to be used for an online assessment, you must notify NCFE immediately by email at [email protected].
Access the step-by-step instructions
What if an invigilator identifies a student using an external aid during an assessment?
In this situation, follow the below instructions:
- Report the incident to the designated person immediately.
- Pause the assessment in Surpass and then remove/block the unauthorised software. If necessary, the invigilator should summon assistance.
- Record what happened on the invigilation register.
- The invigilator or designated person has the right to stop the external assessment immediately. This decision must only be made in exceptional circumstances where malpractice is irrefutable. Once stopped, no allowance can be given retrospectively if the decision is deemed invalid.
- The Head of Centre has a duty to report all potential malpractice identified to NCFE using the malpractice notification form NCFE Learner malpractice form.
What actions will NCFE take if malpractice is suspected?
The use of these aids is prohibited for all our online assessments. NCFE will monitor this through unannounced Assessment Audit Visits, and reviews of assessment data within our online assessment platform.
NCFE would then decide to investigate further to determine if malpractice has taken place. This may lead to penalties/sanctions being applied if malpractice is proven. Therefore, we’d appreciate your support in preventing malpractice and negating the need for this action.