This study examines the impact of academic stress, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, on the mental health of university students. Using a mixed methodology, quantitative data obtained through a validated questionnaire and qualitative data collected in focus groups were combined, providing a comprehensive picture of stress’s physical, psychological, and behavioral manifestations in 256 students at the Faculty of Education of the University of La Laguna. Quantitative results show that the main stressors are homework overload, assessment pressure, and difficulty reconciling academic and personal life. The qualitative analysis delves into how students perceive and manage these factors, revealing strategies such as planning and emotional support to mitigate stress. The combined findings suggest institutional interventions to reduce academic stress and promote an environment conducive to students’ holistic well-being.

Measures adopted by educational systems to improve and adapt the educational response of pupils with disability or diversity conditions arising from their personal and social conditions, have enabled them to gain tenure throughout the various stages of education. Educational institutions have been progressively adapting and responding to the educational needs of students who start university, and this fact highlights the lack of inclusive culture in university institutions. The lack of training of university teachers in the educational response to the needs of students with disabilities is evidenced by the high dropout rates of this group and in successive complaints of teachers who do not have the skills or tools to cope with this situation successfully. The review of a set of 75 programs developed by different Spanish universities to meet the needs of these students shows an insufficient institutional and administrative response while reflecting the lack of unity of jointly developed criteria.

Bullying occurs in all countries where it has been studied, causing negative effects on victims such as anxiety, low self-esteem and even depressive pictures that hinder their integration into the school environment. In Spain, one of the first studies to address peer abuse as violent behaviour in the school context was that of the Ombudsman in 1999. This study has sought to address the incidence of bullying in students with and without SEN, from the perspective of victims, witnesses and aggressors, and has also sought to reveal the most relevant characteristics of bullying situations. To this end, a questionnaire adapted from the Ombudsman-UNICEF Questionnaire (2007) was used. The sample consisted of 1077 participants (51% of boys and 49% of girls) between 11 and 13 years of 34 compulsory education centres in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura (Spain). The Chi-Square test and the Mann–Whitney U test were used to analyse the difference for meanings below 0.05. The results confirm that students with SEN are more vulnerable to bullying by their peers.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced changes in the educational response, which involved the intensive use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills, among other interventions. The circumstances required both families and teachers to make an extra effort to adapt to a reality that was expected to last for a long time. These changes had a special impact on students with Specific Needs of Educational Support (SNES) and Special Educational Needs (SEN). This study aimed to design and validate a questionnaire to assess the impact of the online training model used during the pandemic on teachers of students with SNES and SEN. We used qualitative, exploratory, and confirmatory factor analyses. The final 16-item scale was composed of three factors. Factor1, was labeled as “Educational Response.“, factor2 was labeled “ICT Usage and Online Teaching,” and Factor 3 was labeled “Impact.” The questionnaire demonstrated good validity and reliability. This short questionnaire is recommended for assessing or monitoring the impact of changes in educational interventions involving ICT competencies due to COVID-19. However, they can also be easily adapted to similar circumstances or educational settings.

Introduction: inclusive education is a global goal to promote the academic success of all students, regardless of their conditions or disabilities. In Portugal, Decree-Law No. 54/2018 replaced Decree-Law No. 3/2008, establishing a new legal framework for inclusive education. Aims: to assess the perception of primary school teachers in Portugal on inclusive education and the impact of mindfulness programmes on students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Method: non-experimental study with quantitative and qualitative analysis. An online questionnaire was used with 415 teachers, and a focus group was conducted with five school members in Alto Alentejo. Results: teachers perceive improvements in inclusion processes and benefits in attention, impulse control and behaviour of students, especially those with ADHD, in schools that apply mindfulness programmes. Conclusions: integrating mindfulness programmes in the primary education curriculum would be beneficial, promoting socioemotional skills and improving the inclusion of students with special educational needs

The objective of this study was to adapt and make available a valid instrument based on a joint questionnaire (self-report type) to detect the risk of bullying and emotional problems in pupils aged from 11 to 13 years. The questionnaires used were that of Spain’s Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo) to detect the risk of becoming a victim of bullying and an adaptation of Spain’s CECAD to assess the risk of emotional problems. The participants were 1077 gender-matched subjects enrolled in the 6th year of Primary Education (n = 467) and the 1st year of Lower Secondary Education (n = 610) from 19 schools in the Region of Extremadura. High reliability was obtained in both questionnaires, as well as a significant relationship between bullying and emotional problems (0.36). The scales place the pupils at either a certain risk level (mild, moderate, or severe) or no risk. The study concludes with the description of four situations deriving from the cross relationship between victimization and the pupil’s emotional problems: (1) no risk of bullying and no risk of emotional problems (73.2%), (2) risk of bullying but no risk of emotional problems (11.1%), (3) no risk of bullying but risk of emotional problems (9.4%), and (4) risk of bullying and risk of emotional problems (6.3%).