Under TASC’s Academic Integrity Policy and as one of the requirements of registration with TASC, schools must have, and enact, an academic integrity policy (see Standards for Providers of TASC-accredited courses). See also the Academic integrity resources for students.

Each school must have a policy in place and this must be available to TASC on request. A set of Guiding Questions is available to assist schools to develop their own internal processes.

This requirement applies to all schools that deliver TASC courses. However, where schools deliver Level 3 and Level 4 courses that have an external assessment component, such as a folio or other project work, the requirements are more rigorous. Schools must be able to assure TASC that the work submitted for external assessment is the work of the student and that all sources have been properly acknowledged.

All students are expected to observe the highest standards of honesty and integrity in the work they submit for assessment: this is called academic integrity. Actions that are a breach of academic integrity are listed in TASC’s Academic Integrity Policy.

Students can use other people’s information, images, ideas or words in their work, but they must be clear and transparent about what they have used, whose material it was and where it was sourced from.

  • Using a wide range of sources of information shows that a student has planned well and has undertaken solid research.
  • Teachers and external markers reading or viewing student work must be able to clearly see what parts of it are the student’s own work, and what parts are from other people’s work, and where they got the information.

If a student submits work for assessment that is not all their own work and not referenced appropriately, this is called plagiarism which is a form of cheating. Honesty in assessments extends to not copying another student’s work, not getting others to complete work for them and not cheating in exams and tests. If students are found to be in breach of this rule, they risk the cancellation of their external results and possibly all of their results for the year, for both internally and externally assessed courses.

Schools should develop internal processes that provide a consistent approach to ensuring the authenticity of student material submitted for assessment.

Students need to learn about academic integrity and its importance and they need to develop the necessary study skills to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is not limited to written work and can be found in student work in Arts, Media and Technology courses.

In addition to writing in their own words, students need to adopt good research and study skills and be able to reference correctly and acknowledge sources.

Students must take responsibility for acting honestly and ensuring their work meets the standards for academic integrity. This might include retaining early drafts, consulting regularly with their teacher and maintaining a learning log/journal.

Teachers should ensure that teaching and learning programs include the development of these skills and any others relevant to their course such as the use of specific referencing systems.

Teachers need to be vigilant and frequently view and discuss student work in progress, recording these discussions in student learning logs and/or class assessment records.

Teacher librarians can support students and teachers in developing their knowledge and understanding of academic integrity and provide guides to referencing and advice on web tools that can be used.

A set of Guiding Questions has been provided by TASC to assist schools to develop their own internal processes.

The TASC Academic Integrity Guide answers frequently asked questions and explains:

  • what academic integrity is
  • the different forms of academic dishonesty
  • the possible consequences of academic dishonesty
  • why the student declaration form is important.

Using generative AI in folios – discussions with students

Term 2 is often the time of the year when student work on externally assessed folios begins in earnest. While teachers are best placed to guide their students about AI, TASC want to remind teachers of some key components to discuss with their students:

  • Be open about the fact that AI is evolving quickly and no one has all the answers, including teachers.
  • Be clear with your students about how you use AI yourself and model how AI can be used ethically as part of your explicit teacher instruction time in your classroom.
  • Clearly outline how AI should and should not be used in your course.
    • In folio work, for example, students might be required to identify their interactions with AI by including the prompts and/or screenshots of how they used and refined the AI-generated text. Teachers might also think about how to get students to identify inaccuracies and hallucinations in the AI-generated text when compared to reliable, scholarly sources in the field of study.
  • If AI is allowed in specific cases in your course, clearly outline how AI should be acknowledged and/or referenced and the referencing style that is appropriate for your course.
  • Explicitly show your students how to regularly save their draft versions of the development phases as they construct their folio, especially regarding ‘version history’ trails. This will ensure transparency and accountability.
  • Have clearly documented dates for student drafts to be submitted to you during the folio period development phase and ensure drafts are uploaded through either your school’s Learning Management System (LMS, e.g. Canvas) or you have an electronic record of them to save centrally.
  • Prior to final submission dates, consider how you could get student feedback on how they use AI in their folio. This might be done via an interactive oral presentation between the teacher and student where the student discusses how they undertook the assignment and the teacher can ask questions about various aspects of the folio’s development.

(Adapted from an article in Teacher Magazine, 24 November 2025: https://www.teachermagazine.com/au_en/articles/how-students-want-teachers-to-support-them-in-using-ai and with acknowledgement of resources from the University of Tasmania.)

 

 

An online Student Declaration must be completed by all students undertaking one or more TASC-accredited courses at Level 2 or higher.

When students complete their Student Declaration they:

See Student Declaration for more information.

Some TASC-accredited Level 3 and Level 4 courses have an externally assessed component (such as a folio or project) and a Student Declaration form must be signed to verify that the material sent to TASC is the student’s own work. In doing this, the student and the teacher are confirming that the work was submitted by the required date and meets the school’s academic integrity requirements.

If a teacher does not endorse the student work, this may have serious consequences for the student. A student can request a review of that decision, and schools should have documented processes that independently verify the student work.

There are serious consequences for a breach of the external assessment rules and TASC will take action if a Student Declaration form is signed but the folio is found to contain unacknowledged information, images, ideas or words. Penalties will depend on the seriousness of the offence.

See Folio assessment for more information.

Every year, TASC receives a small number of reports from Exam Centres and Marking Coordinators regarding students who are suspected of breaching the TASC External Assessment Rules. These are initially investigated by TASC staff and any that are deemed to warrant further consideration are passed on to the TASC Conduct Review Committee by TASC’s Deputy Director. The below resources provide more information about this process: