Children with special needs can be put off from classroom learning because the technology meant to support them was often letting them down, according to a new report.
More than two in five teachers said they had seen technology avoidance behaviour developing among their SEND pupils, with 13% observing a clear pattern of withdrawal from learning tasks.
The report, which analysed responses from 800 secondary teachers, outlined how unreliable devices affected SEND pupils differently from their mainstream classmates.
More than half of teachers reported that SEND pupils were hit harder when technology goes wrong, with 17% saying they were much more negatively affected or unable to continue with the lesson.
Increased confidence and participation
For a pupil with dysgraphia who depends on typing because handwriting is painful, or one with working-memory difficulties whose notes exist only on a device, a laptop crash removes their primary method of accessing the curriculum when they need it most, the study found.
Yet nearly all teachers reported seeing confidence grow among SEND pupils after receiving digital tools.
More than a third said it increased confidence in abilities, while almost one in five noticed better homework completion rates. Similar proportions observed more classroom participation, 18%, and less anxiety about academic tasks, 16%.
Two-thirds of respondents said pupils with dyslexia, dyspraxia or ADHD performed better academically when they could rely on digital tools working consistently, compared with just 10% who saw little or no academic impact.
For pupils whose success depends on digital tools functioning, reliability is not a luxury feature to be weighed against cost savings
When teachers were asked what prevented technology from working effectively, 38% pointed to devices that simply fail when needed, ranking this ahead of insufficient devices, 36%, and inadequate teacher training 35%.
The report comes just days after the government announced a £200 million package to help train teachers in effective methods of teaching pupils with SEND.
Impact on teachers
The study also suggested there was an associated impact on teacher workload with staff spending, on average, an additional two hours and twenty minutes each week troubleshooting PC and laptop issues specifically for SEND pupils.
One in ten teachers said they regularly avoided technology-dependent activities for SEND pupils because they could not trust devices to work, and a further 42% had backup plans in case technology fails. Only 13% plan lessons assuming technology will function as intended.
Nick Mitchinson, commercial marketing lead for ASUS Education, which commissioned the study, said the findings reveal an unintended consequence of digital inclusion strategies.
“Technology was meant to remove barriers for SEND students, but when devices aren’t reliable, we’re not levelling the playing field, we’re creating different obstacles,” he said.
“A student who’s been let down by crashing software or frozen screens multiple times learns to protect themselves by avoiding situations where it might happen again.
“What teachers are documenting here is that device reliability isn’t just a technical issue. It’s directly affecting whether SEND students engage with digital learning at all.”
The government’s £1.7 million pilot of assistive technology lending libraries suggested officials recognised the central role technology played in SEND provision.
Early evaluations cited in a report from the Department for Education in 2024, showed that 86% of staff noted positive behaviour impacts and 89% witnessed greater confidence among pupils using assistive technology.
Reliability a major concern
The ASUS study found that most SEND provision now depended on basic classroom laptops and tablets, with four-fifths of teachers relying on such devices for at least a fifth of their support.
When choosing devices for SEND pupils, teachers’ priorities tended to reflect classroom reality rather than procurement requirements, with 63% identifying consistent, reliable performance every day as their primary concern. Only 13% prioritise lowest possible cost as their main factor.
Mitchinson added that the research painted a picture of a system patched together with goodwill, backup plans and workarounds, where the reliability of a laptop can determine whether a student participates in a lesson or sits silently, unable to begin.
“For pupils whose success depends on digital tools functioning when they need them, reliability is not a luxury feature to be weighed against cost savings. It is the difference between accessing the curriculum and being excluded from it,” he said.
