Why do students cheat? It’s a question many educators and institutions ponder in their quest to embed a culture of academic integrity.
As instructors, we welcome a new cohort of students into our classrooms, whether they are virtual or in-person, with each passing cycle. Each term starts with a clean slate; the students are new to us and we are new to them. We make clear learning goals and expectations.
And yet we know that many students will engage in academic misconduct during the year. Why? And what can we do to better identify ‘cheaters’ and support them to higher academic integrity? We have some answers below.
Why do students cheat?
Students cheat for a wide variety of reasons – and they might not be what you expect. Academic pressure , assignment turnaround times, overall student satisfaction, relationships with educators, and language proficiency all play their part as well.
Some reasons why students engage in academic misconduct include:
- Failing to see value in the work they’ve been assigned
- A sense of entitlement to high grades (Simmons, 2018)
- Self-sabotage (McKay, Williams, and Stewart, 2023)
- A cutthroat pressure environment and school culture
- The perception that “everyone does it” ( Turnitin survey )
- Overload due to personal stress or a personal crisis (Subin, 2021)
- Lack of knowledge around academic integrity (Gugapriya, Kumar and Karunakaran, 2023)
- Inadequate deterrents for cheating/feeling people “get away with it”
- Depression and/or anxiety (Lodhia, 2018)
- Personal traits that predict academic dishonesty (Wang and Zhang, 2022)
It isn’t simply that some students want a shortcut to success – though this is one cause of
academic misconduct
. Research has found some students are simply more prone to dishonesty and less deterred by the risk of discovery.
The reality is that many cheaters are struggling students, whether the struggle is psychological or academic. Fortunately, these heartbreaks can be mitigated by instructor intervention and curriculum.
What do cheaters look like?
While educators may be on the lookout for ‘cheaters’, there’s no obvious profile to look for. You can’t look into your classroom and spot a ‘lazy’ or ‘dishonest’ student who’s engaging in
contract cheating
, Googling for
test banks
, or using
word spinners
to evade similarity.
Students who engage in academic dishonesty look like:
- High-achieving students AND struggling students
- International students AND domestic students
- Historically marginalized students AND students from more privileged backgrounds
They are students under pressure coping with lofty expectations, multiple languages, and other headwinds.
Do students understand they’re cheating?
A vexing question for educators is whether students know they’re cheating. Despite educating learners and striving to create a culture of academic integrity , the lines seem increasingly blurred.
AI completes assignments with a click, peer influence via social media promotes academic shortcuts, and illegal contract cheating enterprises continue to target vulnerable students. It’s no wonder students are confused, conflicted, and – when experiencing pressure – tempted. Nor that plagiarism is on the rise.
Even when students know they are cheating, they may be in denial about it.
According to leading academic integrity researcher Dr. David Rettinger, students don’t want to see themselves as immoral. In fact, they often rationalize their cheating as legitimate behavior–for instance, if they find little value in the assignment (Simmons, 2018). They don’t think they are cheating, even if instructors do.
What are the benefits of identifying and supporting at-risk students?
Supporting at-risk students is a proactive way to address academic misconduct, and improve outcomes for students, institutions, and society as a whole.
While at-risk students aren’t always obvious, the risk factors – such as disconnection from learning, stress, and pressure – are. Mitigating these factors is key to reducing academic misconduct and early intervention can lead to substantial benefits.
Improved student outcomes
By addressing the underlying causes of academic dishonesty, educators can help students regain their confidence, re-engage with learning, improve their critical thinking, and develop genuine subject mastery.
Reduced academic misconduct
The clearest benefit of timely support for at-risk students is reduced instances of academic misconduct. This helps institutions maintain their reputation and reduce financial losses associated with student dismissals.
Societal and economic benefit
Supporting academic integrity and moral development helps reduce the likelihood of underqualified or unethical graduates in critical professions, such as medicine, engineering, and law. Plus critical thinking skills support innovation.
Knowing why students cheat helps educators tackle the issue
Knowing why students cheat helps educators design effective strategies to identify and correct academic misconduct. For example:
- Lack of awareness of what constitutes cheating > Improved integrity education
- Lower language proficiency > More support for non-native speakers
- Familial or societal pressure > Enhanced mental health and academic interventions
- Poor student-teacher connection > Working to build classroom relationships
- Lack of deterrent > Strengthening action against academic dishonesty
- Not understanding their next steps > Providing appropriate scaffolding for learners
How can we help ‘cheaters’ get back on track?
Educating students on what constitutes cheating
A clear knowledge of academic integrity is critical in ensuring students avoid misconduct. Having a foundational knowledge of academic integrity makes it that much harder for students to rationalize shortcut solutions. Education around integrity needs to highlight the value in the effort of learning and developing knowledge, rather than simply attaining grades, and help students develop their moral compass (Janinovic, Pekovic, and Vuckovic, 2024). Turnitin's Achieving academic integrity resource can assist in promoting this awareness.
Recognize cultural differences
Academic integrity is aligned with Western ideals and international students may have a difficult transition when traveling overseas for an education. Cultural context regarding individual reputation when it comes to academic performance may increase pressure and make learning very very high-stakes for someone struggling with multiple languages. Non-native speakers may need additional support to help them navigate the unique pressures of studying abroad.
Provide scaffolding for learning
Providing scaffolding support for vulnerable students is critical to academic integrity. Scaffolding is the process of introducing new tasks and concepts in a gradual and structured way, to help students develop new capabilities with less stress and fear of failure.
Be vigilant to risk and listen to students' needs
Research from the Harvard School of Education states, “Our youth informants describe a type of vertical support that centers on listening and responding to students’ needs. They want teachers to enable ethical behavior through holistic support of individual learning styles and goals” (Goldman, 2016). Understand the impact of academic pressure on integrity and enhance support services to nurture integrity in at-risk students.
Build stronger classroom relationships
Cultivate a sense of belonging for students within your classroom. Cutthroat environments and a perception of “instructors who don’t care” are factors in academic dishonesty. On the other hand, students who feel seen and connected to a classroom community develop greater intrinsic motivation and persistence.
Improve assessment design
Design assessments
that connect students to the learning. This includes frequent, low-stakes assessments –
formative assessments
– that allow students to “fail safely” and receive direction on the next steps in learning. These kinds of assessments also provide insights into student learning for teachers. Using a
variety of assessment formats
measures different kinds of learning and is inclusive of different learning styles.
Promote a culture of academic integrity
Promote a culture of academic integrity. Students can be vulnerable to peer pressure; an “everyone does it” mentality towards cheating is detrimental to learning, and one way to combat such an environment is to embed a culture of academic integrity within an institution and in classrooms. Whether included in a
classroom syllabus
or at multiple points throughout
a student’s learning environment
, structures of academic integrity such as honor codes, aligned definitions, and software to mitigate plagiarism, should be visible.
Empower educators to act on suspicions of misconduct
Software like Turnitin Originality helps educators have more confidence in their convictions, providing data to help assess the likelihood of individual academic misconduct and gather supporting evidence to guide discussions with students.
It also provides students with formative feedback to help them address any unintended plagiarism and self-correct before the problem gets bigger.
Overview: Why do students cheat?
With the right support structures and a culture that helps students feel seen, educators can ensure that learning is the goal of students. And that shortcut solutions like cheating don’t feel accessible or viable.