Teachers and pupils across Scotland face a major loss of education IT services in the new school year, The Herald can reveal.

Licencing changes by Microsoft mean that access to range of tools such as Word and PowerPoint will be restricted, leading Scottish Labour to demand that the government step in and “ensure kids across Scotland have access to these crucial tools.”

Until now, staff and young people in Scottish schools have been able to use a range of popular Microsoft Office applications. Under the previous arrangements, the offline version of the software was available in schools and could even be downloaded and activated on personal devices free of charge.

This was possible under the terms of the free Office A1 Plus licence in use across the country, but this option is due to be withdrawn in a matter of weeks and no information has been provided to explain how this loss will be mitigated in schools throughout Scotland.

At the beginning of June, a blog post on the country’s digital learning service – known as ‘Glow’ – advised that users would experience significant changes from 1 August 2024.

No press release confirming the change was issued by the Scottish Government at that time, and The Herald only became aware of the situation after being contacted by a whistleblower, despite a government spokesperson confirming that it has been aware of situation since August 2023.

The blog post confirms that the licence change “affects all Glow users, both staff and students and may impact home devices as well as in-school devices.”

As a result of the change, “users will no longer be able to download the desktop applications through their Glow account” after the end of July. Teachers and pupils will also be unable to “activate products such as Word, Excel or PowerPoint desktop apps using their Glow M365 credentials.”

Furthermore, users will find that already activated software “will no longer work with [their] Glow account.” This means that users will only have access to a “reduced functionality mode” that will allow documents to be viewed and printed but will prevent editing and saving.

Users have already had their storage capacity reduced to 100GB as part of other changes by Microsoft.

Information from the corporation’s website advises that those affected by the loss of the A1 Plus licence can “purchase additional Microsoft 365 A3 or A5 licenses” or revert to Office 365 A1 which provides “access to online Office 365 web apps and collaboration and classroom tools.”

The situation in Scotland stands in contrast to that of Wales, where the government secured an upgraded Microsoft licence in 2019.

Speaking anonymously to The Herald, current teachers said that the loss of offline Microsoft Office software could cause “chaos”, and pointed out that the situation would likely be worse in highland, island and rural areas. They also criticised the lack of communication about the loss of service and warned of a “nightmare” when schools return in a few weeks.

In their 2021 manifesto, the SNP promised to remove barriers to learning by “providing every pupil with their own laptop or device and a free internet connection.” The document went on to explicitly clarify that, although earlier work had focused on “connecting children most in need”, they would now provide devices and free internet connections to “every child in Scotland”.

However, this policy now appears to have been abandoned, with a spokesperson telling The Herald that the government will instead “invest £10 million this year for the provision of devices and connectivity to support digital inclusion for low income families struggling with the cost of living.”

Scottish Labour Education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “Once again pupils and school staff in Scotland are paying the price for SNP incompetence.

“This shambles 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.”

The Herald approached Microsoft for comment on the changes and to ask for clarification on the type of licence upgrade required to continue existing IT services in Scottish education. Their press department eventually provided a link to an online blog post about cuts to storage capacity and declined to provide any further information or comment.

A COSLA spokesperson said: “Local Government is aware of this issue and are working with partners (including the Scottish Government and Education Scotland) to understand whether this will have any impact on provision of digital services within schools”.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The loss of free Microsoft Office downloads is the result of an enforced change by Microsoft, announced in August last year. Since then, Education Scotland has been engaging closely with local authorities.”

Asked to confirm details of how the impact of the impending change will be addressed, a senior government press officer said that they had nothing further to add.