Scottish schools to suffer loss of key digital tools

Scottish schools are to lose offline access to key platforms like Microsoft Word and PowerPoint in a matter of weeks, it has been reported.

Next month, Microsoft licensing changes will leave Glow users unable to download the desktop application through their account, bringing a “significant” loss to education IT resources.

Glow is Scotland’s national digital learning environment and up to now its Office A1 Plus licence has allowed users to access an offline version of Microsoft Office applications, which could also be downloaded and activated on personal devices free of charge.

These changes would come into force two weeks before students start the new school year.

Speaking to The Herald newspaper, teachers have said the loss of the software could cause “chaos”, and shared significant concern for those in the Highlands as well as island and rural areas.

Potential changes were first made public in a blog post from Glow in June, but a government spokesperson said they were first made aware of the situation in August 2023.

The Glow post confirmed the changes would impact staff and students, and possibly home and in-school devices.

It also said teachers and students would not be able to “activate products such as Word, Excel or PowerPoint desktop apps using their Glow M365 credentials”.

Those who already have the software activated will have access to a “reduced functionality mode” that will allow documents to be viewed and printed but will prevent editing and saving.

This would not be the first restrictions to come from changes in Microsoft licensing. In February, Glow users already had their storage capacity reduced to 100GB.

To date, the Scottish Government has not confirmed any potential impact from licensing changes.

However, a Cosla spokesperson has confirmed that the government is aware of the issue, adding that the council umbrella group is working with the government and Education Scotland to “understand whether this will have any impact on the provision of digital services within schools”.

Scottish Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “This shamble speaks volumes about the chaotic and dysfunctional way the SNP is managing education here.

“The SNP cannot keep passing the buck for their failures – this is a national problem, ignored by this government and they must fix it and ensure kids across Scotland have access to these crucial tools.”

Holyrood has contacted education secretary Jenny Gilruth and Education Scotland for comment.