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Academic misconduct is a concern in tertiary institutes globally with some perceiving it as endemic. Amongst the issues raised by this practice are serious ethical considerations and impacts on learning. If students are not doing their own work, what is actually being learned? The reasons why students plagiarise are therefore a legitimate area of study and may not be as straightforward as they first appear. This research was conducted at the Petroleum Institute (PI), an engineering university and research institute in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The main objective of the research was to gather data which would highlight the perceptions first-year students have concerning the proportion and frequency of cheating among their peers. There was also interest in discovering what students considered to be the main reasons for such behaviour. Findings show that at the start of the undergraduate programme, three quarters to four fifths of the students viewed copying as serious or very serious. However, after only one semester this percentage had dropped considerably for some areas. Frequency of cheating also varied from the first to the second semester. The data established that there is a clear problem and indicates a need for change. In the context of the Communications Department, to which the researchers belong, courses were already in place within which issues of plagiarism and copying were minimal. This paper presents the full findings of the investigation and describes an enquirybased approach adopted by the PI Communications Department in 2006 to lay the foundations for developing honest inquiry and the academic construction of knowledge. The approach aims to facilitate student engagement, ownership and buyin and has had a mitigating effect on copying and plagiarism. Recommendations are suggested for general changes across the curriculum, based on the experiences of the above mentioned programme.

This article describes a process of incorporating future school administrators’ value clusters into a university preparation program. The university's role in integrating a values dimension in school administrators’ preparation programs is elucidated. The “Principal's Reflective Experiential Preparation Program” is described, with an emphasis on the use of the “Hall-Tonna Inventory of Values” to ascertain the future administrators’ value clusters as they relate to the individual's leadership classification. It is noted that this process of values and leadership articulation affords clarity regarding the future administrator's philosophical foundations as they relate to educational practice and to the determination of future career decisions. Finally, reflections are given regarding future directions to enhance values integration in administrative preparation programs; such programs are challenged to integrate the candidates’ value clusters—those that energize humans, within programmatic development.

This article examines a taxonomy for understanding and applying various facets of ethical argumentation and conceptualization to administrative practice. Initially, the importance of using such research findings and developing the ability of conceptual analysis is presented. Then, an explication of normative ethics is given; that is, both a prescriptive approach to ethics and the relevance of applied ethics for educational leadership is considered. This four part taxonomy is then applied to administrative practice. Finally, recommendations are given on the use of the taxonomy for educational leaders.

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