Impact of Higher Institutes of Sport and Physical Education in Tunisia Students’ Pre-University Cheating Behavior on Their Asocial Conduct during University Examinations

Abstract

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first thesis dealing with cheating in university exams at the higher institutes of sport and physical education in Tunisia. This research is aimed to 1) evaluate the importance of the phenomenon; 2) define the profile of cheating students; and 3) contain the role of the society in the emergence and spread of this phenomenon. 799 students from the four Tunisian higher institutes of sports and physical education volunteered to respond to a quantitative questionnaire-based survey. The data collected were statistically analyzed using the SPSS-version 20 software. A univariate statistical study was followed by a bivariate or multivariate study. 86.1% of respondents admitted that they had cheated during their university education. Univariate and multivariate studies pointed to cheating antecedent as the common denominator amongst cheating students, since 99.98% of them had already cheated at school. Results analysis was performed from two standpoints: the individual and the social context, in which the student was brought up, based on well-established known theories. This twofold approach made it possible to highlight the interaction between the different actors. Student misbehavior is the inevitable result of the shift in social representations of academic norms that have led to the trivialization of cheating, converting student status from mere observer into a follower. The genesis of this culture, where cheating has become part of the norm, is marked by the collusion plays between the actors involved in the training and evaluation processes i.e. students, professors and the institutions.