Principles of natural justice
What are the principles of natural justice?
Procedural fairness (or natural justice, as it is also known), involves three rules or principles:
- ensuring that a student has the right to be heard and that they are provided with and have the right to respond to, any information presented or considered in reaching a decision (e.g. for plagiarism, Turnitin reports);
- ensuring that any decision made is free from bias (eg. making a determination of academic misconduct based on a case's merits not based on whether or not a student has previous academic misconduct - any previous misconduct is an issue for penalty if a finding of academic misconduct is made), and;
- ensuring that any decision is made after a reasonable investigation into the issue has been conducted and relevant evidence considered.
Following these principles will assist in ensuring that any decisions made are thorough, fair and reasonable.
The NSW Ombudsman provides a useful "Fact Sheet" [PDF 52KB] explaining procedural fairness.