But despite his determined advocacy, Gibbons is no blinkered zealot. 'I agree that authors are in the 'Once Upon A Time' business and not lecturing. Writers need a good story, but it is an abdication of responsibility just to be in it for the market or self-gratification. Authors have a responsibility. I am in it to change the world,' said Gibbons, 52, who was a teacher for 17 years and still spends the bulk of his time in schools in east Merseyside.

He says the visits keep him grounded and maintain his focus, and estimates that up to a quarter of students are persistently bullied at some time in their school life.

'When I see a kid bullied week in, week out for the whole of their school career I wonder what the hell it does to their self-esteem. I want to see kids who suffer recognise that there is someone who cares for them, even through fiction,' he said.

Although many of his tales are dark and about the seedier side of life, Gibbons also has a well-developed sense of humour. Take his comic novel Chicken. In this entertaining book the main character, Davy, finds it difficult to stand up for himself against the bullies at school. The rest of his family are just as scared of life but with the help of his sister he prevails in an entertaining and illuminating way.

Gibbons' belief in the power of fiction stems from his Lancashire childhood. On the trip to Hong Kong, sponsored by Paddyfields, he spoke to teachers and students and visited libraries as he does in schools throughout the world.

He told Sha Tin pupils how he would borrow books to read at home after Mrs O'Neill, his head teacher, read them to the class, and recalled how he would often act out the tales by hiding in the cupboard.

His chirpy humour and lively delivery are received enthusiastically by his audiences. Sha Tin Junior Year Five and Six students could barely contain themselves as Gibbons regaled them with stories from his childhood and school days; tales about collecting frog spawn, not wanting to hold hands with girls while barn dancing and travelling around the world during a gap year that lasted 15.

But the pupils quietened down to hear how Gibbons became a writer in his spare time. A schools inspector heard him read one of his attempts to his class and suggested he send it to a publisher. Following 23 rejections, Pig was published.

Gibbons spoke to primary and secondary students at six international schools during his Hong Kong trip and clearly relishes close contact with young readers. Teachers who promote tolerance and acceptance of people's differences are, for Gibbons, the key to long-term solutions to social injustice. 'I can't address all the specifics of every situation; I am only there for a day. But I can help create the notion that it's cool to learn and wrong to be cruel or malicious.'

Moments of crisis feature strongly in Gibbons' writing. 'They're like a bolt of lightning. You see people's character in a moment of confrontation,' he said. He is particularly concerned with what he sees as a crisis of masculinity in modern society. Gibbons believes the collapse of male manufacturing employment in UK and elsewhere has affected boys' self-esteem. This, he said, manifested itself in aggressive behaviour. 'But boys are like cut glass,' he added. 'They are covering up. They don't know what their role is any more. They can't state their identity through successful work. This crops up time and time again in my books.'

Gibbons' time as a teacher and his work as an author and consultant in schools have forged definite views on the teaching of English. 'You can't drill or test or drip-feed the holistic range of skills needed,' he said. 'We need to instil a love of reading for pleasure and put it at the heart of the curriculum. It might take five years to teach a subordinate clause, but an able teacher could do it in two hours through books. In too many schools reading has been marginalised.'

Gibbons bemoans the fact that many teachers he meets, especially younger ones, have at best a poor knowledge of children's literature, and urges training colleges to ensure their courses include a module to address this. Similarly with writing. Gibbons believes encouraging children to write well is a necessity. 'We live in a communication economy. There is hardly a job out there where you don't need to be able to process language at quite a high level. Purely in economic terms, society cannot cope with millions of illiterate citizens.

'It is more important than ever for students to recognise their own identity, to be satisfied and satisfying human beings. This takes language. We process our hopes, memories, dreams and expectations with language. We are richer people if we use language well.'

He acknowledges that a rigorous structure for teaching English is not necessarily a bad thing, but he warns against squeezing creativity. Teachers should not be constrained by a restrictive paper-based assessment and planning culture policed by politically motivated administrators at the expense of teachers' professionalism and the ability to devote time to teaching rather than recording. Teachers, in his view, need to re-establish more control and be more confident in doing what they know is right.

He would stimulate the imagination of his own students by using puppets and props, recalling how he once carried a stuffed crocodile through the centre of the city of Liverpool and on to a bus where the tail escaped from the bag it was in and knocked an old lady's glasses off, much to her amusement.

He said releasing teachers' energies to focus on the joys of learning and teaching rather than focusing on prescriptive pedagogies imposed from outside led to the high academic standards everybody wanted. 'It works. In my school, one year 100 per cent passed the [UK-based] SATS and the next year 97 per cent. And in any case, you can't measure energy, engagement and excitement. A balanced, flexible approach is the key,' he said.

He is convinced that good teaching requires good leadership to maximise its potential and blames poor leadership for a period when he felt directionless as a full-time teacher. He and colleagues were rescued, he said, by a new and inspirational head teacher.

'I believe a handful of charismatic individuals with purpose can liberate people and lead from the ground,' he said. This was preferable to instruction from 'governments or bloated administrations'. 'Children need more space to become rounded individuals. Burnt out people don't help society.'