State school teachers have been told not to restart their computers after a software glitch locked them out of their own online learning materials and roll-call programs on Monday morning.
The Department of Education would not say how many of Queensland’s 1266 state schools were affected, but a spokesperson said the issue was “intermittent”, affecting staff on an individual basis.
“Schools are communicating with parents and carers where needed by other means,” the spokesperson said.
In some classrooms, teachers were forced to use personal devices, including mobile phones, to get through their roll-call and lessons.
The department said the issue occurred with one of its security systems – provided through Telstra – but was not the result of a cyberattack and did not pose a security threat.
The glitch rendered the schools’ internal software unreachable on some devices, and appeared on previously unaffected devices after they rebooted.
The department warned teachers and school staff to avoid shutting down or restarting their computers.
Technicians from the Education Department and Telstra were working to restore access to affected computers on Monday, although an initial departmental fix stopped working shortly before midday.
