According to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, internet plagiarism among sixth form students has reached epidemic proportions:
"The 58 per cent of teachers who said plagiarism is a problem estimated that over a quarter of work returned by their pupils included plagiarism. These findings come from an ATL survey on internet plagiarism which questioned around 300 teachers working in school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and further education colleges across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in December."
In one case, the plagiarism was so blatant that the work handed in still contained the internet adverts from the site it was copied from. However, for real stupidity just consider the following comment from Dr Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary:
"This survey highlights one of the risks of putting so much emphasis on passing tests and getting high scores at any cost."
What the survey actually highlights is weakness of coursework assessment as opposed to exams and the failure of many schools to inculcate the virtue of intellectual honesty in their students.
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