Do we consider the spirit of the child when we choose to send our children to school? A growing number of parents in the west are beginning to sense that by pushing formal academic learning on the very young, they deprive them of something essential and precious, their right to childhood.
This is a view held dear by those involved in Steiner Waldorf Education, whose school at Cooleenbridge, Tuamgraney, Co Clare, has an open day on May 23rd.
Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher and educationalist, opened the first Steiner school in Stuttgart in 1919. He wanted to create an education which would give pupils clarity of thought, sensitivity of feeling, and strength of will.
Steiner's ideal was to teach children to "know and love the world". "We shouldn't ask what a person needs to know or be able to do to fit in with the existing social order. Instead, we should ask what lives in each human being and what can be developed in him or her," he said.
There are at least 730 Steiner schools worldwide and more than 1,500 kindergartens. The school at Cooleenbridge, attended by 106 pupils, opened in 1986 and has two kindergarten and four class teachers.
Its existence is largely thanks to the efforts of a number of parents, some of whom had experienced Steiner education elsewhere. Many moved to the area to send their children to school there.
This kindergarten has stumpy rustic chairs straight out of a fairytale, soft muslins drape the walls, while smooth blocks of birchwood wait to become whatever the imagination of children deem they should be.
In the senior classes, children learn astronomy and art, maths and music, English and foreign languages. There are four other schools in Ireland, several kindergartens, and there are moves to set up in Galway, Kilfenora, Co Clare, Castlebar, Co Mayo, and Sligo.
A shortage of Steiner teachers has prompted the Cooleenbridge school to provide a three-year part-time training course which 30 people are attending. The core Steiner philosophy states that respect for the nature of childhood is essential. What is taught, and when, is all important.
It has been said Steiner pupils have been "taught to think; . . . they intrinsically understand the difference between thinking about an issue and merely memorising `the right answer' for a test".
"Each year of a child's life is precious and must be filled with what is appropriate to that time of life and not be pressurised by what the world is demanding too early," says a Steiner teacher.
There is an emphasis on creative play and imagination in the early years and art, music, stories and movement play an important role in a Steiner education.
Wonder, reverence and closeness to nature are essential to its philosophy, as is a loving and continuous relationship between teacher and pupil.
Funding is the major problem parents face because it receives no support from the Department of Education, unlike Steiner schools in most European countries.
Mr Pearse O'Shiel, who has been involved with the Clare school almost from the start, says:"After 10 years of solid achievement the State should recognise the commitment of parents to the school.
"Here you have a perfect example of educational plurality which can only be good."