A Preliminary Study on Using the “Little Box of Big Questions (2012)” for Children With Social, Emotional, Behavioural and Moderate Learning Needs

Listening to children is comprehensively acclaimed and embedded in Educational Psychology practice and moral, pragmatic and legal perspectives, and professional guidance exist to enforce this practice. Whilst a variety of tools have been explored for listening to children using various techniques, research is yet to focus on using philosophical/spiritual listening approaches with children with special educational needs. This paper targets this specific area by exploring the experiences and impact of using a spiritual listening tool, The Little Box of Big Questions (2012), and follow-up questions to enable reflection opportunities. Data was collected over four sessions with four children aged 13 to 14 with social, emotional, behavioural and moderate learning needs who attended a specialist school for moderate learning needs. Semi-structured interviews, alongside a teacher focus group, informed the thematic analysis, with findings suggesting that relationships, education and feelings about themselves and others not only play a role in students’ lives but are also areas of perceived improvements following the sessions. Implications for educational psychologists were discussed, including a greater understanding of the use and impact of The Little Box of Big Questions with children with special educational needs to elicit aspirations, enable goal setting and motivate change.