REVIEW article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Special Educational Needs
This article is part of the Research TopicEducation To Enhance The Inclusion Of All LearnersView all 18 articles
Analyzing Barriers to the Effective Implementation of Technological Tools in Inclusive Education: A Scoping Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Universidad Tecnologica Indoamerica, Ambato, Ecuador
- 2Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral, Guayaquil, Ecuador
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Introduction: Digital accessibility and inclusive pedagogy are central to achieving equitable education systems worldwide. Yet, the integration of technological tools for students with disabilities remains inconsistent, often reduced to fragmented initiatives without long-term institutional or policy support. Understanding the structural barriers that constrain digital inclusion is relevant for transforming technology into an enabler of educational equity rather than a source of new exclusion. Methods: This study conducted a scoping review following PRISMA-ScR guidelines to identify and analyze barriers affecting the implementation of educational technologies in inclusive education. A systematic search across six databases (ERIC, Scopus, ACM Digital Library, EBSCOhost, Wiley Online Library, and Web of Science) yielded nine primary studies published between 2015 and 2025. Data were thematically synthesized through inductive–deductive coding to identify recurring structural, pedagogical, and policy patterns. Results: The findings reveal persistent deficits in teacher training and digital competence, technological and infrastructural limitations, economic constraints, and weak enforcement of inclusion policies. Additionally, attitudinal barriers, including low expectations toward students with disabilities and limited institutional accountability hinder sustainable progress. Positive factors, such as teacher initiative, institutional commitment, and universal design-based practices, partially mitigate these challenges, demonstrating the potential of inclusive technologies when supported by coherent policy and training structures. Conclusion: Ensuring genuine digital inclusion requires embedding accessibility and universal design as structural components of education systems. Sustainable progress depends on coordinated governance, investment, and professional development that bridge the gap between policy and classroom practice. Registration: This review was registered in Open Science Framework: 10.17605/OSF.IO/T5K7Y.
Keywords: Inclusive education, digital accessibility, Educational Technology, universal design forlearning, assistive technologies
Received: 18 Aug 2025; Accepted: 05 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Murillo-Jiménez, Centeno-Alarcón, Buele and Yumbla. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jorge Buele, jorgebuele@uti.edu.ec
Francisco Yumbla, fryumbla@espol.edu.ec
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.