Becta Schools - Leadership and management - Introduction

Federated access management

The rapid growth in the number of schools with broadband connections and the development of the National Education Network have highlighted the need for more secure and simplified access to electronic resources.

Becta and JISC have devoted significant funds to investigate and implement new technologies. Central to these developments is the UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research, which was launched in November 2006.

What is the UK Access Management Federation?

The UK federation provides the UK schools, further and higher education and research sectors with a framework for accessing online learning material by using identity management software, such as Shibboleth. This gives institutions a route to single sign-on to resources through the implementation of federated, devolved authentication.

Operated by UKERNA on behalf of JISC and Becta, the UK federation is made up of 'identity providers' such as local authorities, regional broadband consortia, universities and colleges, and 'service providers' such as publishers of online resources.

Members of the UK federation agree to a set of policies for exchanging information about users and resources. This enables access to, and use of, resources and services while protecting the security of both the individuals and the resources.

The federation, combined with the use of identity management software within institutions and organisations, is referred to as 'federated access management'.

Shibboleth

Shibboleth is an authentication and authorisation infrastructure capable of granting individual learners with secure anywhere, anytime access to educational resources.

Shibboleth separates authentication from authorisation. Authentication is controlled by the identity provider for the user's home institution - the local authority or regional broadband consortium. Authorisation is based on user attributes and controlled by the service provider.

By granting access based on the role of an individual (for example, Key Stage 3 pupil from a local authority X), Shibboleth does not require any personal information and therefore protects the privacy of users. Information type and other factors may also be considered during the authentication procedure. Users (or their institutions) may decide to provide additional information to content providers, but for the purpose of authentication it is not required.

What are the benefits to schools of federated access management?

Paul Shoesmith, Assistant Director, Technical Policy and Standards at Becta, said:

"The UK Access Management Federation provides a wealth of opportunities and benefits to pupils, teachers and administrators in providing simple and secure access to online resources. Shibboleth has been proven to meet the needs of learners and teachers while facilitating the anytime and anywhere access to learning called for by the Government's e-strategy."

As well as enabling the objectives of the e-strategy to be met, adopting federated access management facilitates personalisation, the 14-19 agenda (due to the same technology being used in further education and higher education and will allow access to e-portfolios and learning platforms.

Specifically, the benefits of federated access management are:

Learners and teachers:

need only enter an institutional username and password, removing the complexity of remembering multiple usernames and passwords
can be confident that personal information is not being disclosed unnecessarily to third parties
are able to access resources from outside the school environment, such as at home or in a public library, subject to the validity of licences
can more easily access appropriate content.

Institutions:

are freed from the burdens of:
managing licences for resources and negotiating with resource owners
assigning usernames and passwords to users
can more easily comply with regulatory requirements, such as those of the Data Protection Act 1998
are able to offer a better service to users (more control)
can potentially use the same access control for all resources, both internal and external
experience fewer support problems (central control).

How do schools join the UK federation?

Schools will typically participate in the UK Access Management Federation via their regional broadband consortium or local authority - their identity provider. Local authorities and regional broadband consortia have been being invited to join the UK federation since 30 November 2006 and schools should contact their local authority or regional broadband consortium (RBC) for more information. If they have not yet done so, local authorities are encouraged to use their Standards Fund Grant 121 to put in place the necessary directory structure and services required to join the UK Access Management Federation.

Further information on how to join the UK federation, including a list of current members, can be found on the UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research website (see below).

Further information

UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research website

Shibboleth website

Federated access management showcase

Becta presented its federated access management showcase on 6 December 2006. This event was for regional broadband consortium and local authority representatives who are responsible for providing their schools with access to online services and materials. Content and service providers that require authenticated access to their online services could also attend. To see the presentations, go to the Becta events area.

Updates

To be kept up to date with UK Access Management Federation developments and discussions, please subscribe to the UK federation mailing lists: announcements and discussions.

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