Serious cheating offences in NSW HSC exams have doubled in past five years

Claire Halliday

New data released by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) reveals around 680 students cheated in HSC school-based assessments and tasks in 2022. 484 plagiarism offences were also reported.

A NESA spokesperson described the rates of HSC plagiarism and cheating as low, but reinforced that, no matter how many people engage in the bad behaviour, “cheating attempts in the exam room, or when working on an assignment from home will not be tolerated and students will be caught”.

The number of serious cheating offences committed during HSC exams in NSW has doubled in the past five years and a record 65 students faced the Examination Rules Committee (ERC) in 2022 as a result.

This NESA subcommittee deals with potential malpractice cases and may impose penalties that include:

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  • zero marks for the exam
  • course cancellation
  • possible loss of the HSC.

The total of 782 assessment cheating offences recorded last year reflects a slight drop from the 854 breaches reported in 2021, but still shows an increase of 15 per cent compared with figures from 2019.

Technology supports cheating

In the past decade almost all schools in NSW have registered misconduct cases in school assessment tasks. Students writing notes on their arms, wearing smartwatches in exam rooms, or using mobile phones during tests were among those caught cheating in Higher School Certificate exams.

In 2022, community and family studies, English and modern history had the highest rates of cheating, including 157 reported offences across English subjects. In each of the physics, chemistry and maths extension 1 courses, there were fewer than 25 reported breaches.

Professor Phillip Dawson, from Deakin University’s Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE), specialises in protecting education from cheating and said that, although the number of students caught cheating  on HSC exams in 2022 was relatively small, the key challenge was identifying whether numbers of students cheating was rising, or if the detection methods used to discover the cheaters was improving.

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“In higher education, we are looking at increasing the use of interactive oral exams as another testing method, in addition to pen and paper tests,” he said in a report on the issue. “It’s a lot harder to cheat when you are having a conversation, and having a range of assessment types is ideal.”

The rise of ChatGPT – an artificial intelligence (AI) program that generates human-like text – will make detecting cheating in assessments even more challenging in future.

According to the NSW Department of Education, teachers are trusted to deal with students suspected of AI-aided plagiarism on a case-by-case basis, a their discretion.

“The department is also continually providing advice to schools on emerging issues around AI, including assessment, given that it is such a rapidly evolving space,” a Department spokesperson reported.

And with Professor Phillip Dawson predicting that the technology is here to stay, finding new ways to respond to it will continue to evolve. For now, though, it’s a problem that will almost certainly see successful cheating prosper.

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“In general, we don’t have ways to both detect and prove the use of artificial intelligence that are really reliable. I think the vast majority of cheating AI will fly under the radar,” he said.

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Claire Halliday has an extensive career as a full-time writer - across book publishing, copywriting, podcasting and feature journalism - for more than 25 years. She lives in Melbourne with children, two border collies and a grumpy Burmese cat. Contact: claire.halliday[at]educationdaily.au