It feels like the entire western world is digital first, meaning every member of staff and every pupil will most likely need access to digital tools to teach and learn effectively. But, making sure the right people have access to the right resources, and only those resources, is one of the biggest challenges facing schools today.

That’s why user access control is one of the five technical controls within the UK’s Cyber Essentials scheme.

From preventing unauthorised access to reducing password fatigue, effective user access control helps schools protect sensitive data, improve security and simplify the management of their digital environments.

What is user access control?

Quite simply, user access control is the process of managing who can access your systems, applications and data.

For example, in a school or trust, that means ensuring a Year 3 pupil doesn’t have access to finance systems, a teaching assistant only sees the resources they need, and a member of staff who leaves the organisation can no longer sign in to school services.

The principle is simple: every user should only have access to the resources they need to do their job or support their learning, but no more than that.

This is often referred to as least privilege, and it’s one of the most effective ways to reduce cyber security risks.

Why does user access control matter?

Schools and trusts manage hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of user accounts.

Every pupil, teacher, administrator, governor and IT professional needs access to different systems. Add cloud applications, learning platforms and third-party resources into the mix, and managing access quickly becomes a complex task.

Without effective processes in place, schools can encounter issues such as:

• Former staff retaining access after they’ve left.
• Pupils accessing resources that aren’t appropriate for their year group.
• Shared passwords between users.
• Multiple accounts with inconsistent permissions.
• Manual administration that increases the risk of human error.

Strong user access controls help reduce these risks while making digital learning easier for everyone.

The importance of least privilege

One of the key principles of Cyber Essentials is ensuring users only have the permissions they genuinely need.

This is known as least privilege.

Instead of giving every user access to absolutely everything, permissions should be assigned according to their role, for example:

• Pupils should only access age-appropriate learning resources, (despite how interesting it would be to see the financial decisions made by little Toby in year 4…)
• Teachers should access the systems needed to support teaching and assessment.
• Finance staff should only access financial systems.
• IT administrators should have elevated permissions only where necessary.

By limiting access, schools reduce the potential impact if an account is compromised.

Managing joiners, leavers, movers
(and shakers)

Schools are constantly changing; new pupils enrol, staff move between roles, supply teachers come and go, and leavers exit throughout the year.

If user accounts aren’t updated promptly, they can become a significant security risk.

This is especially the case if there’s an account belonging to a former employee that remains active, as this causes an unnecessary vulnerability. Equally, users who change roles should have their permissions reviewed to ensure they continue to have appropriate access.

By automating these processes wherever possible, it helps reduce administrative workload while improving security.

Reducing password fatigue

With the average teacher possibly having dozens of different digital tools throughout the school day, that often means managing dozens of usernames and passwords if not using a central authentication system.

The result?

Passwords get reused, written down, shared with colleagues or forgotten altogether, which creates many risks. This is where technologies such as Single Sign-On (SSO) can make a significant difference.

By reducing the number of passwords users need to remember not only improves the user experience but also encourages stronger security practices.

How Single Sign-On supports Cyber Essentials

Single Sign-On allows users to access multiple approved applications using just one secure set of credentials.

Instead of remembering separate usernames and passwords for every single learning platform, staff and pupils authenticate just once before securely accessing the digital resources they need.

This therefore reduces the number of passwords users need to manage, lowers the likelihood of password reuse and gives IT teams greater control over how users access applications.

For schools, it also means less time spent resetting forgotten passwords and more time focused on teaching and learning.

How Skolon supports secure user access

Managing user access across multiple systems can be time-consuming, particularly as staff and pupils join, move or leave your school or trust.

Skolon simplifies this by acting as a central access point for approved digital learning resources. Through integration with your MIS and identity provider, such as Microsoft Entra ID or Google Workspace, user accounts and permissions are synchronised automatically, reducing manual administration and helping ensure users always have the right access.

Single sign-on (SSO) also reduces the number of usernames and passwords users need to remember, while Skolon Pass enables younger learners to sign in securely using QR codes instead of passwords.

By combining automated provisioning, identity management, SSO and QR code login, Skolon helps schools strengthen user access control while making secure access simpler for both IT teams and classrooms.

User access control is about more than security

Good user access control doesn’t just reduce cyber risks. It also creates a better experience for staff, pupils and IT teams.

When users can quickly access the tools they need, passwords become easier to manage, and accounts are kept up to date automatically, schools benefit from improved efficiency alongside stronger security.

Combined with the other Cyber Essentials controls, effective identity and access management helps schools build a secure, scalable and sustainable digital environment.

In the next article in this series, we’ll look at Malware Protection and explore the steps schools can take to defend against malicious software and other common cyber threats.

This is Skolon – we gather the best digital educational tools and make them work in the classroom.

Skolon is an independent platform for digital educational tools and learning resources, created for both teachers and students. With Skolon, accessing and using your digital educational tools is easy – security increases, administration decreases, and there’s more time for learning.

The digital educational tools come from both small and large providers, all of whom have one thing in common – they create digital educational tools that are beneficial for the school environment.