Guilty in Whose Eyes? Student-Teachers’ Perspectives on Cheating on Examinations

Abstract

The study explored student- teachers’ views on cheating during examinations. A mixed method approach which involved a survey and focus group interviews was employed. Nine hundred undergraduate education students from a public university and three colleges of education in Ghana were surveyed. Focus group interviews were held with six students from each institution selected.  A total of 942 students participated in the study. The findings indicate that fear of failure seem to be the main motivation for cheating; students perceived cheating acts treated as minor offences as ‘helping’ peers; the severity of the punishment applied if students are caught cheating negatively influence their propensity to cheat; students’ perception of ethical values does not determine the level of prevalence of cheating; peer loyalty or fellow feeling is dominant; and students perceive a correspondence between social corruption and cheating. It is recommended that the risk of detection should be increased and the penalty for the ‘less serious offences’ reconsidered. If students perceive cheating within the context of their social experience, the overall quality of student experience needs to be considered if the likelihood of cheating is to be minimised. It is suggested that more attention needs to be paid to institutionalizing academic integrity instead of managing cheating.

Keywords: Examination, cheating, student-teachers