The Importance of Academic Integrity in Vocational Education and Training (VET)

Co-authored by Kerri Buttery and Jack Murray

In vocational education and training (VET), ensuring academic integrity is essential for maintaining the credibility of qualifications and the trustworthiness of the VET system. Australia’s VET regulator, ASQA, has identified academic integrity and specifically academic cheating as one of its regulatory risk priorities for 2024-2025.  Academic integrity encompasses a range of values and principles, including honesty, responsibility, and the respectful and fair treatment of ideas and work produced by others.

Authenticity: A Key Component

In VET, authenticity in assessment evidence, which is a Rule of Evidence, is crucial as assessors (and their RTOs) must be assured that the evidence presented is genuinely the work of the student. For example, in a hospitality qualification, authentic assessment might involve students preparing a specific recipe within a given time frame, showcasing their skills and knowledge in a real-world setting. This kind of assessment reflects the student's abilities and minimises the potential for academic dishonesty.

Verifying Evidence: Plagiarism and AI Use

Plagiarism can take various forms, such as the direct copying of someone else's work or the improper paraphrasing of sources without proper citation. For instance, in a graphic design course, a student submitting a project that closely resembles an existing design without attribution would be an example of plagiarism.

On the other hand, AI use for cheating can involve the unauthorised use of machine-generated content or automated tools to complete assignments or exams, bypassing the need for genuine effort and learning. Currently, the most popular way of deterring these practices is by using AI detection tools, which is fraught with danger. Leon Furze, a knowledgable author in the space of EdTech, has stated that AI detection tools do not work. If you’d like to know the mechanics of why they don’t work, read his article AI Detection in Education is a Dead End. These detection tools are unreliable and can lead to false accusations of cheating. They must be carefully used due to the possibility of ‘false positives’, where genuinely authentic student work is flagged as AI-generated.

Instead of relying on AI detection tools, assessment design processes and educating staff and learners about AI and academic integrity are key parts of a system for ensuring academic integrity.

Elevating Assessment Design for Integrity

 In VET, assessments should be carefully designed to promote authenticity and combat plagiarism. When assessing skills, direct observation of learners will practically eliminate opportunities for cheating, especially when observation is conducted in real-time and in person. For example, in a nursing program, assessments focused on real-life clinical scenarios can test students' critical thinking and practical application of knowledge, making it more difficult for students to engage in academic dishonesty. When assessing knowledge or learning skills that cannot be directly observed, a ‘triangulating’ assessment, which uses multiple assessments of different types, provides more trustworthy evidence (TEQSA 2023). Additionally, incorporating open-ended questions and project-based inquiries can encourage students to think critically and creatively, reducing the likelihood of plagiarism.

 Another approach that can increase the likelihood of learners submitting authentic work is to design groups of coordinated assessment tasks that are linked together rather than assessments that are one-off individual tasks. For example, clustering units of competency and assessing them holistically, designing assessment tasks that build on previously completed tasks (and assessor feedback on those tasks), and/or using portfolios of work collected throughout the learner’s course. This approach builds a picture of learner competence and performance over time, increasing assessor confidence that the learner’s work is their own and making non-authentic work easier to recognise (TEQSA 2023).   

Educating for Ethical AI Use

As AI tools become more prevalent in education, educating students on the ethical use of such technology is crucial. For instance, in a data analysis course, students should be taught to critically evaluate the insights generated by AI algorithms and consider the ethical implications of using AI to make decisions. Where it is appropriate for AI to be used in an assessment task, learners should be allowed to demonstrate how their use of AI was appropriate, for example, by incorporating reflective tasks into the assessment process. By fostering this mindset, educators can prepare students to engage responsibly with AI technology in their future careers.

 Staff should also receive professional development on the proper and improper use of AI and how to incorporate it into the training and assessment they deliver.

Nurturing a Culture of Integrity

RTOs should give their learners clear and upfront guidance on academic integrity. Policies and procedures should set out clear, consistent and fair consequences for breaches of academic integrity standards, up to and including expulsion or exclusion from the RTO and/or the rescinding of certifications obtained through academic dishonesty. However, consequences should be graduated and take into account the nature of the breach (e.g. intentional vs. Inadvertent, first offence vs. Repeated instances of improper conduct) and the degree to which the student accepts that they have erred and their willingness to change/improve (e.g. consequences for cooperative and contrite learners might focus on education/remedial training on academic integrity, whereas learners who refuse to accept the RTO’s decision may have to be sanctioned or receive an NYC result, i.e. punitive) (TEQSA 2020).

Beyond implementing policies and tools, creating a culture of integrity involves fostering open discussions and providing guidance on ethical conduct. In a digital marketing program, students could be encouraged to openly discuss the ethical considerations of using AI to automate social media campaigns and to evaluate the authenticity of AI-generated content critically. By nurturing a culture of integrity, RTOs can instil in students the values of trust, honesty, and ethical behaviour, shaping them into responsible professionals with a deep commitment to academic integrity.

Encouraging students to value honesty and integrity in education fosters a learning environment based on trust, authenticity, and innovation. By prioritising these values, VET programs can contribute to developing skilled and ethical professionals who are well-prepared to contribute to a brighter future.