The major challenge of educational systems in the 21st century is to meet the growing societal demands to develop lifelong learners in the expanding knowledge-based economy. Technology, and its effective integration into classroom practice, is widely regarded as one of the best solutions to achieve this arduous task. The UK Government’s response to this challenge over recent years has been to invest heavily in schools’ infrastructure and other initiatives to help educators meet these demands (DfES, 2005). This has resulted in huge waves of innovations which have challenged the status quo of educational practice and created tensions in the work activity system of educators. Extensive research has been carried out to study the impact of such innovations in schools (eg. Davies et al., 2005; Condie & Murno, 2006; Kitchen & Finch, 2006). In special educational settings, research on the use of ICT has mainly focused on the role of assistive technologies in enhancing the capabilities of individuals with disabilities in situations where supportive environments already exist. However there is limited research on the impact of large scale nationwide ICT developments in education that have been adopted in special schools. This study seeks to explore the tensions created by the implementation of an online learning environment recently introduced across all school sectors, including both mainstream and special schools, in Northern Ireland. It aims to investigate how educators in two institutions for children with learning difficulties respond to these tensions in an attempt to achieve a better understanding of barriers to the acceptance of reforms. Activity theory (Leont’ev, 1978, 1981; Engeström, 1987) is a recognised theoretical framework employed in many ICT studies (eg. Basharina, 2007; Hardman, 2007; Russell & Schneiderheinze, 2005). It provides a perspective useful for coherently analysing learning environments as it allows researchers to capture and observe the intricacies of classroom practice as well as the dynamics of working in a special educational context. Furthermore it facilitates researchers in clarifying and illuminating insights on data from several individuals engaged in collaborative learning activities within their natural setting. An activity system is a logical combination of interrelated entities, including a subject, an object and layers of historically accumulated tools, patterns of division of labour and rules. This study seeks to identify these characteristics or nodes in the activity theory model in order to look for patterns of interconnection between these nodes in the activity of educators’ classroom practice.

In this study, the researcher and four teachers from two special schools worked collaboratively on the design and implementation of a constructivist-based learning environment in order to facilitate the learning experience of students with mild to moderate learning difficulties. The learning environment designed utilised technological resources available within these schools, including interactive whiteboards, an online voting system, and an online learning environment. A qualitative methodology was employed to systematically identify important indicators in the educators’ practice that affected their ability to deal with tensions caused by the adoption of the newly implemented learning environment. Participant observation was the main method of data collection, carried out throughout the study which ran during the 2007/2008 school year. This data was supplemented by interviews, which were conducted regularly with participating teachers in order to access their points of view and discuss issues emerging from observations.

Results indicate that educators constantly battle with tensions that emerge in their everyday practice while striving to adopt an innovation which requires radical pedagogical changes in the classroom. Tensions identified can be described in terms of two broad categories: (1) issues related to the local school environment and (2) educators’ prior conceptions about learning and teaching in special educational contexts. These results shed light onto the problem of late or inappropriate adoption of technology in schools, not only in the UK but across all European countries. It thus helps to edge collective research efforts closer to providing special schools and their educators with the assistance they need in achieving success in their technology implementation.