The integration of mindfulness techniques into educational settings is becoming increasingly widespread. Typically, these interventions aim to support social and emotional learning and to enhance executive functioning. Over the past decade, numerous programs have emerged to meet these goals, including the Inner Kids Program and the Inner Resilience Program, both designed for primary school students and focused on cultivating awareness of thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. In contrast, programs like MindUP place a stronger emphasis on developing social and emotional awareness, improving psychological well-being, and fostering academic achievement.

The aim of the present study is to explore, through a scoping review, studies related to mindfulness-based programs delivered in primary schools and the exploration of their effectiveness on levels of mindfulness, social-emotional learning (SEL), well-being, and some specific aspects of executive functions, such as attention and inhibition.
The study considered three search engines: PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. We conducted this scoping review in accordance with the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) reporting guidelines and checklist. The selection of papers for the literature review involved constructing a search string that incorporated all carefully chosen keywords.

317 articles were identified and examined, of these, 28 met the inclusion criteria.
The studies selected for research included qualitative and quantitative research and cover different types of mindfulness-based programs destined to primary schools.
The analysis of the results allowed a general exploration of the topic.

Mindfulness-based interventions in education are mostly structured, but there are also programs that use mindfulness activities without following specific protocols. They all share activities based on awareness of breathing, recognition of thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations, regulation of internal states and behavior. Some are more specifically oriented towards the development of executive functions or attention. The main differences concern duration (from 2 weeks to 6 months) and management method (experts, trained teachers or both). Of the 13 studies that measured mindfulness levels, improvements were observed in 6, while in the remaining 7 no significant changes emerged. Regarding emotional regulation, 5 out of 8 studies showed positive effects, while empathy showed limited results, with only one study detecting an increase. On the contrary, prosociality improved in all studies that evaluated it, indicating a greater consistency of effects in this area. For well-being, 9 out of 12 studies report significant changes, suggesting a generalized positive impact, although not uniform. Finally, on the processes of attention and inhibition, 11 out of 13 studies report positive effects, confirming the relevance of mindfulness in the development of cognitive skills in school contexts.

The qualitative studies also highlighted a positive subjective liking and perception in students who were involved in the programs.

Some limitations and future research directions will be explained.

Keywords: Mindfulness-Based Programs, Primary School, SEL, Executive Functions.