Agnes Nobel examines the importance of art in the development of the child and looks for some answers to the vital question : what is education for? She goes on to investigate why Steiner-Waldorf schools attach such importance to art in education, and why Rudolf Steiner himself brought artistic training into all fields of further education.

She describes Steiner's picture of the developing child, his views on the imprint of early experience on the child's whole being and the importance of living relationships and community in the Steiner-Waldorf school. She shows how these ideas are expressed in the curriculum of the schools.