by Natalia James, University of Sussex
Across UK schools, behaviour is increasingly monitored, scored and sanctioned. While some see behaviour-tracking as a way to promote order and consistency, for disabled children, especially if they’re neurodivergent or have unmet support needs, the consequences can be deeply unfair and damage mental health. Inflexible behaviour policies can also have a significant impact on parents.
Often, strict behaviour policies fail to consider the reasons behind a child’s actions, treating behaviour as something to control, rather than understand. This can lead to disabled pupils feeling discriminated against, disproportionately punished, excluded or labelled as disruptive, when what they actually need is support, flexibility and connection. Schools and families should consider the Equality Act1 and the use of reasonable adjustments2 in this context.
Researcher Natalia James recently shared an academic poster on the issue at the British Educational Research Association’s 2025 conference. of her work into behaviour-tracking apps—and she’s now kindly written about her research study.
Are Behaviour-Tracking Apps Harming SEND Children and their families? by Natalia James
Classroom behaviour-tracking apps like Class Charts, used by over four million students in the UK (Staffordshire University, n.d.3), are increasingly common in schools worldwide. They are used to log student behaviour, turning actions into positive or negative points for real-time sharing with staff, parents, and students. However, their impact, especially on vulnerable students and families, remain limited.
As a parent of a 14-year-old with ADHD and Dyslexia, I saw how this technology affected us firsthand. When my daughter started secondary school, we used the Class Charts app. It quickly became an obsession, with me checking it multiple times daily. For her, who rarely faced sanctions in primary school, the app caused significant distress as her pie chart turned increasingly red with negative points. This made me question what these apps are doing to children and families.
Through a scheme funded by the Junior Research Association at the University of Sussex, I participated in a small-scale eight-week research project. I interviewed four parents of secondary school children who used a behaviour-track app, and had a range of additional needs, including those with autism, ADHD and dyspraxia.
Constant monitoring—a source of worry and stress
A key theme was the extensive monitoring carried out by parents. All parents in the study checked the app daily, some multiple times a day, even while at work. While some parents did not want to engage in this level of monitoring of their children, it appeared to become an unavoidable force to ignore, as one parent stated,
“I honestly would like not to engage with it at all. So first, daily…It’s a push, pull type of thing. I would like to ignore it, but it sends emails anyway.”
This highlights how using apps in this way promotes high levels of parental surveillance of students and what might contribute to the normalisation of such monitoring. This process makes increasingly pervasive surveillance practices seem normal, acceptable, and even necessary. In this case, parents can be constantly informed of every logged positive or negative interaction their child experiences at school.
For some parents, regularly checking the app became a source of worry and stress, especially when they noticed new negative data points. This was driven by concerns for their child’s welfare at school, knowing they had been in a situation where a sanction was given and worrying about their child’s well-being. As one parent said,
“If I’m at work, I’ll just quickly go on it and check, and if I see he’s got a negative—oh no, what’s going to happen? I know he’s gonna have a hard time in school. And I’m at work. And what can I do about it? But having a child with autism, I just have to sneakily check it sometimes.”
This suggests that, although apps can be an effective and efficient way of communication for schools and many parents, for parents with children with SEND, the app may become a source of worry, concern, and constant monitoring.
“Most striking from my interviews was how all parents in the study discussed how their children routinely received negative points for behaviours stemming from their SEND diagnosis.”
Negative behaviour points instead of support and understanding
Most striking from my interviews was how all parents in the study discussed how their children routinely received negative points for behaviours stemming from their SEND diagnosis. By awarding negative points in this way, it individualises student behaviour, placing responsibility on students and parents while ignoring structural and contextual barriers to education. As well as often poor provision because of England’s SEND crisis (IFS, 20254), disabled pupils are now also receiving disproportionate sanctions, with higher rates of suspension and exclusion (DfE, 20255).
Digitising sanctions and rewards raises questions of how these apps may intensify an already fraught and unjust environment. This was evident in parent comments such as, “My daughter is autistic and has ADHD. Without support, she can’t concentrate for longer than 10 minutes, and she gets negatives for something beyond her control”, and “They give him negatives for making noises. He has vocal ticks. He can’t help it”. For some students, the apps became a cycle of negativity, as red negative points far outweighed the positives. Parents noted, “It’s constant red. It’s not healthy. What does it accomplish apart from stressing everyone out?” and “Telling the child continuously, you know, giving only negative feedback, especially to neurodivergent children. It shows such a lack of understanding about how these conditions manifest themselves.”
For the parents in this study, a key concern was their children constantly being given negative behaviour points for complex behaviours that required support and understanding, rather than being simplistically labelled as negative behaviour. This was incredibly frustrating and upsetting for parents navigating the app and supporting their child. For students, one parent detailed the implications for their child, “My son just stresses about it so much, I think it really plays on his mind”.
Unmet needs, poor communication and increased conflict
Emerging critical academic work on classroom behaviour-tracking apps often discusses their use as a means of instilling compliance in students, viewing them as tools for disciplinary control. However, for parents in this study, it was recognised that, rather than fostering compliance, this disciplinary approach only intensified tensions. As parents stated, “The behaviour is chatting, so, many negatives. I don’t think he chats a lot, but he has no chance to reset anything. It’s just reinforcing rather than stopping the behaviour.” and “They replace a teaching moment with a punishment”.
A student’s behaviour from unmet needs cannot be addressed just by assigning behaviour data points to enforce compliance. Using negative points for behaviours related to SEND does not tackle the root causes. This meant parents in this study often resisted the app’s use, and they actively challenged the school’s approach, encouraging their children to ignore negative points linked to their SEND.
Additionally, it increased parental workload. One parent expressed how they first had to identify who awarded the negative point before emailing for more context. This highlights how behaviour-tracking apps, rather than simply enhancing communication, may generate tensions and conflicts between families and schools. Yet, despite one parent requesting their child be removed from the app and seeking alternative communication methods, they were both refused:
“I had a meeting with the SENDco, my son asked to opt out of being on Class Charts…they said that just was not an option… my son was really upset… and I just don’t understand.”
Implications of this research
This raises serious concerns about children’s data rights, as third-party apps are used to monitor, track, collect, and share behavioural data, but ignore parents’ and students’ voices when such data adversely affects their well-being.
While this research features only four parents’ voices, their stories and issues may mirror your own experiences with classroom behaviour-tracking apps. Schools must consider students with SEND when using these tools, ensuring proper training so policies don’t unfairly discriminate. Engaging students and families in developing behaviour policies and addressing parents’ concerns with alternative communication is also crucial.
References
- Why the Human Rights Act matters when advocating for your child with SEND ↩︎
- Learning from disability history to create policies where inclusive education can become a reality ↩︎
- Staffordshire University (n.d.) Duncan Wilson Graduate Story. Available at: https://www.staffs.ac.uk/alumni/graduate-stories/duncan-wilson ↩︎
- Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) (2025) England’s SEND crisis: costs, challenges and the case for reform. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/articles/englands-send-crisis-costs-challenges-and-case-reform ↩︎
- Department for Education (DfE) (2024) Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England: 2023-24. Available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/suspensions-and-permanent-exclusions-in-england/2023-24 ↩︎
About Natalia
Natalia James is a PhD candidate researching classroom behaviour-tracking apps, with particular focus on students from marginalised backgrounds, including Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Her research is deeply informed by both professional and personal experience—she worked as a teaching assistant in mainstream and special school settings before beginning her academic journey and is the parent of a teenager with ADHD and dyslexia.
She holds a BA in Sociology and Criminology and recently completed her Master’s in Social Research Methods. Her work is driven by a commitment to creating more equitable educational opportunities for neurodiverse learners and addressing systemic barriers within educational institutions.
Don’t miss a thing!
Don’t miss any posts from SNJ – simply add your email address below. You must click the link in the confirmation email you’ll receive to activate your free subscription.
You can also keep up with us by following our
Want more? Be an SNJ regular donor!
SNJ is a non-profit and everyone who writes here does so voluntarily. We need your support to help us with costs by donating once or as a regular patron. Find out more here
Disabled Children’s Rights are Under Attack.
We’re fighting, but we can’t do it alone: we need your help more than ever.
We’re volunteer-run, but costs are rising. To help us keep going, please consider a one-off or, if it’s possible, a regular donation.
Read more about being a regular donor here.
We use Zeffy to fundraise, which doesn’t charge us a fee, so 100% of your donation reaches us.
Also read:
- Supporting secondary pupils with additional needs: Top Tips learned as a SENCO and a SEND parent.
- Why nurture groups and effective nurture practice are vital for whole school inclusion
- Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Protecting children or punishing parents?
- SNJ’s 80 practical recommendations to solve the SEND Emergency
- Learning from disability history to create policies where inclusive education can become a reality
- For children with SEND and their parents, a compassionate teacher is key
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
- The Unacceptable Truth: 20 SEND legal rights at risk from the Government’s SEND reforms
- How health and family support systems are failing children starting school
- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals
- When things go right: Shining a light on SEND Practitioners making a positive impact [Giveaway!]
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children
- Have your say on the future of transport for disabled children and young people
- Unison voices major concerns over SEND reform health plans for sick and disabled children out of school in the EOTAS consultation
- Top Tips for the EOTAS & EHCP consultation: Protect your child’s rights to statutory SEND support
- Navigating constraints: Why a former PCF chair thinks the current model is missing the mark for families
- Dear Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell: an Open Letter from Special Needs Jungle and SEND legal charity SOS!SEN
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them”
Don’t miss a thing!
Don’t miss any posts from SNJ – simply add your email address below. You must click the link in the confirmation email you’ll receive to activate your free subscription.
You can also keep up with us by following our
Want more? Be an SNJ regular donor!
SNJ is a non-profit and everyone who writes here does so voluntarily. We need your support to help us with costs by donating once or as a regular patron. Find out more here
- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals - September 3, 2026
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children - August 28, 2026
- Have your say on the future of transport for disabled children and young people - August 25, 2026
Please share this article!
Discover more from Special Needs Jungle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
