Alright, Martin, thanks for taking the time to meet with me today.
I just wanted to talk to you about a query that's come up.
We've had a parent just make contact with the school
regarding an assignment that their child completed
in your class for English.
My name is Selina Kinne and I am from Dominic College in Hobart.
I have three roles here at this school.
I'm Head of Technology and Applied Studies,
Curriculum Coordinator for Year 7 to 10,
and Director of Teaching and Learning K-10.
In my role as Curriculum Coordinator,
one of my responsibilities is to support colleagues.
And that can particularly be in the areas of ethical situations,
and ensuring that they're following through
on their professional responsibilities and processes
in how we deal with those situations.
Today I will be meeting with one of my colleagues, Martin,
and we'll be dealing with an issue that has arisen
regarding authenticity of a particular piece of assessment
that one of his students has submitted.
So the students were studying a text,
and the assignment in question was a text response essay
that the students had to complete.
The student in question submitted the text response essay by the due date.
But on correcting the student's work,
I've come to the conclusion that the entirety of the work is not her own.
What particular evidence do you have for that?
OK, I tested all of the students at the start of the year,
mainly for the purposes of formative assessment tasks
so that I can determine the best way
that we go about improving their skills and their learning.
And the results from the testing,
also allied to the results that I got from the school,
in terms of NAPLAN data and various testing that students have completed
throughout their time here at Dominic,
that the work that she's presented is not really commensurate
with her current standards and her current level of skills.
I'd have to say that it's well above her standard of work.
Right, right.
To the point where it's probably...
The student is performing at about a C level
and this is at about an A+ level.
Right, OK, so that's a huge difference.
You know, ethically, that's a concern because we have to ensure
that students are putting up their own work
and not the work of others.
That's obviously a very important concept
and I'm sure you've already talked with the class about that before.
Can you tell me a bit about how you dealt with this with the student?
Because I believe that you met with the student to talk about this issue.
She informed me that she was having trouble with the task,
so I spent some extra time with her.
And subsequent to that, she informed me that she'd taken a tutor
who was going to help her with the task.
When I received the task, I could see that the ideas were
the ideas that I had discussed with the student,
but the way that they were phrased - you know, the voice, the tone,
the language that she'd used was not her own.
So I understand that you said to her
you weren't able to actually assess the work,
and you would like her to submit it in her own words.
So you met with her and had a discussion with her about that.
Yep, to that effect, and she basically refused.
And said that, "No, this was my own work."
You know, "This is what I'll submit.
"I won't submit anything else. This is my own work."
And I think that's where the issue might have arrived
at your doorstep so to speak.
OK, so I think we've fulfilled responsibilities
in the sense of structuring the task.
You know, and giving her lots of support in that and giving her
an understanding of the expectations and what is required.
So I can see that you've really scaffolded it well with the students,
and you're very familiar with the work that she was doing
and her ideas and what she was working on.
I think there's certainly an issue here in relation to the tutoring
and how that has actually affected
her, you know, actual assignment that she's submitted.
So I think probably our next step is to really bring the parents in
and explain this to them so that they have
a full understanding of the situation.
Today in the meeting with Martin, it was clear to me
that he's made sound judgements
in the way that he has handled this particular piece of work.
I think he's followed due process in meeting with the student,
and explaining what was required,
and where the issue is with the work that they've submitted.
I feel that in my role as Curriculum Coordinator,
I can now support my colleague, Martin,
and use this evidence as a basis for setting up a meeting
and seeing this through to a positive conclusion.