Warning over plagiarism in schools

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers surveyed 278 union members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and found 58% believed internet plagiarism was an issue.

Of those, almost one in three thought at least half of all work returned to them included material copied from internet sites.

Gill Bullen, a teacher from Itchen College in Southampton, said: "Two GCSE English retake students were very late in handing in their last piece of coursework, an essay on Romeo And Juliet. When finally given in, their pieces turned out to be identical - and significantly better than either of them could have done.

"Not only that, the essays given in didn't match the title question I had set."

But almost a third of those questioned said they did not know whether the school or college they worked in had a policy for dealing with plagiarism, and 55% said students lack a clear understanding of what is plagiarism and what is legitimate research.

Diana Baker, from Emmanuel College in Durham, said: "I have found once students clearly understand what plagiarism is, its consequences and how to reference correctly so they can draw on published works, plagiarism becomes less of a problem.

"I think the majority of students who engage in plagiarism do it more out of ignorance than the desire to cheat, they really want to succeed on their own merit."

More than 90% said they were worried about the effect of plagiarism on students' long-term prospects, a view endorsed by Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL. "This survey highlights one of the risks of putting so much emphasis on passing tests and getting high scores at any cost," she said.

"Unsurprisingly, pupils are using all the means available to push up their coursework marks, often at the expense of any real understanding of the subjects they are studying. Long term, pupils are the real losers because they lack the skills they appear to have."