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To ensure that a unified approach is adopted in the handling of all plagiarism cases, whether they are identified in schools or by the HKEAA, serious plagiarism cases (P cases) identified by the schools should be reported to the HKEAA for follow up. The Public Examinations Board will review all the information and evidence and decide on the penalty to be imposed in accordance with its guidelines on handling examination irregularities. The levels of penalty to be imposed for proven P cases are as follows:
(a) Zero marks will be given to the SBA task concerned. In addition, a penalty of downgrade by one level will be imposed in the subject.
(b) For extreme cases, e.g. repeated offence of plagiarism, candidates may be subject to disqualification from the subject(s) concerned or the whole examination.
Other less serious plagiarism cases are to be handled at school level. Schools need not report these cases to the HKEAA but should keep a proper record. Schools may impose penalties to proven cases in accordance with the school regulations and the HKEAA guidelines as stipulated in the SBA School Leaders' Handbook and Teachers' Handbook. This may include:
(a) issuing a warning letter to the student;
(b) deducting marks for the task concerned; and
(c) awarding zero marks for the task concerned.
In order to strengthen the message about proper conduct of SBA to students, schools should request all students to complete and sign a declaration form, at the beginning of each school year in which SBA is undertaken, to declare that the SBA tasks for all subjects to be completed will be their own work and to agree to adhere to a code of honour in completing the SBA for all subjects.
For details about procedures in handling SBA plagiarism cases, please click here.
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