Examination Management And Examination Malpractice: The Nexus

Abstract

Examination malpractice or cheating has become a global phenomenon. In different countries of the world today, developed and developing, academic dishonesty especially cheating in examinations has heightened and taken frightening dimension. In many countries of the world this phenomenon has become a serious matter of concern that has left many appalled and conjecturing the cause of this problem. This paper implicates unethical examination management practices which begin from teaching in the classroom, thereby shifting the usual focus of examination malpractice on students to the entire chain of examination management process. This implies that teachers, school heads, administrators, invigilators, supervisors, examiners, secretaries or clerks, examination bodies, parents, and law enforcement agents are part of this problem. The paper thus theorized about global examination malpractice that; the magnitude of examination malpractice in any country at any time is directly proportional to the extent to which examination management roles violate or uphold examination ethics. Using Nigeria as a point of reference, this paper discusses the unethical examination management practices that tend to sustain examination malpractice. It further articulates examination management ethics, which when followed can check the tide of cheating in examinations.