IT'S 9.30 am on a cold winter's morning and 32 six year olds, all neatly dressed in their red and grey uniforms, are sitting in a large circle in their classroom at Bayside Junior School, Sutton, Co Dublin.

The children listen attentively as one after the other, they address the question "which country did God make first?". They put forward opinions and ask the questions that concern them about the issue. Did God make the land or the sea first? Was earth the first planet that was created in the universe? How did God put the water onto the earth? How can he breathe in outer space, when we can't?

The group reaches no definite conclusions nor does it try to. Each child is given the opportunity to ask questions and express opinions. But you come away from the session with mental images of the large hand of God, (who is unable to draw a straight line and should use a ruler), deftly painting onto the earth's canvas, bright blue seas, towering snowy mountains and green grassy fields.

"Thinking time" is a favourite part of the week for the children of Bayside's second class, who have been participating since first class, in the "Philosophy with Children" programme, which is run by their teacher, Philomena Donnelly.

"The aim of the programme is to encourage critical and creative thought to keep alive children's questioning minds and their sense of wonder," Donnelly says. "Our education system is focused on giving the right answers, but in life moss issues would have a number of valid responses. `Thinking time' helps children to realise this," she says.

The children choose their own topics for discussion and the teacher acts as a facilitator. Future subjects for consideration include how sheep make wool, why poor people are poor and what would happen if there was no alphabet.

Initially, children restrict their comments to straight questions or opinions, but as they become more used to the process they start to agree and disagree with their peers. Towards the end of the year they will be using "perhaps" and "maybe" and beginning to think hypothetically, Donnelly predicts. Often issues that arise during the sessions are later considered factually in lessons a recent dialogue about the tide was followed up with a class on the magnetic forces of the moon. Children are allowed to pass if they have nothing to say (or are too shy). But according to Donnelly, far from missing out on the discussion, they are listening hard.

Over in Bayside Senior School, 10 year olds in Liam Lally's fourth class, who have been participating in the philosophy programme since first class, are discussing the value of donating money to Trocaire. The session quickly expands into an examination of whether super models and pop stars deserve their high earnings and whether people should restrict their own lifestyles in order to support the poor both in Ireland and abroad. The children are confidant, articulate, logical and brimming with ideas. In making their points, they refer to their own experiences and to information they have acquired by reading or watching television.

"Sometimes we use the circle, but I now challenge the children on the spot during lessons when topics arise incidentally," says Lally. "Recently we were discussing the Vikings and I asked them what attractions did Ireland have for the Vikings. They came up with a lot of reasons, many of which were in the text book discovering this gives them a lot of confidence." The children learn to listen carefully, to respect the opinions of others and to understand that you can disagree yet remain friends, he says.

Jackie Murnane teaches a class of 12 year olds who are experiencing philosophy for the first time. "You do need to start early," she says. "Even by the age of 10 they can be inhibited about speaking out in a large group, if they're not used to it." However, Murnane who first introduced the programme to her class four years ago, observes "I've been astounded at how much they can say and how deeply they think about things. Yet they have very few opportunities to express their thoughts."

BY THE age of 12, children want to discuss moral dilemmas, world issues and justice. Often highly academic children perform less well in discussions,

Murnane says, because, bound up as they are in a system in which there are only right and wrong answers, these children are often reluctant to offer opinions in case they are wrong.

Philosophy, she says, "offers children the opportunity to think, to analyse, to explore different ideas and to look at problems from different angles." Meanwhile, less academically able children are often particularly good at thinking and expressing themselves and make valuable contributions to discussions, she says.

According to Dr Joe Duane, who lectures in the philosophy of education at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin, philosophy for children is enormously valuable.

"It helps children to think more creatively and critically and it encourages them to find their own voices within a climate of dialogue that is of respectful listening and responding which fosters moral and civic virtues as well as more strictly cognitive ones," he says.

Dunne began teaching a course on "thoughtful children and dialogical teaching" as part of the in service B Ed in St Patrick's in 1990. This course has been discontinued but from next September, similar courses will be available as part of a new in service provision.