Form Seven student Lee Wang-tak, of Yan Oi Tong Tin Ka Ping Secondary School, said: 'When we learnt to walk and talk we learnt on our own. We should continue this method.'

Other students at the event, held at the University of Hong Kong last Saturday, also spoke up in favour of collaborative learning, which involves more discussion and research and less teacher-talk. Jacky Leung Cheuk-ki, 11, of HKUGA Primary School in Chai Wan, told Mrs Law that arguing was a good way of learning. 'Because there are different opinions you definitely learn something,' he said.

He appreciated the collaborative learning but reminded the audience that competition was a necessary motivator too, even though his school has abandoned the traditional ranking of students.

The conference was organised by HKU Faculty of Education's Centre for Information Technology (CITE), which is running a pilot project to promote and monitor independent learning. The project is part of an international 'knowledge building' network initiated by Professor Marlene Scardamalia, director of the University of Toronto's Institute of Knowledge Innovation and Technology, who also spoke at the conference.

Nancy Law Luk Wai-ying, director of CITE, said the conference and her centre's work was trying to get to the crux of the reform agenda. 'There are efforts to restructure education at systems level, with policies like '3+3+4', school allocation and new subjects. But the reason for all these changes is to bring about a change in learning goals.'

Giving children more responsibility for their own learning required teachers to have a different perspective, she said. 'They have to change the way of understanding what kids are capable of and how learning takes place,' Dr Law said.

Principals and teachers who spoke at the conference showed that some schools, at least, are grappling with this change.

Patrick Lam Hak-chung, vice-principal of the innovative HKUGA Primary School and the school's general studies panel chairman, gave an impressive account of his experiences with collaborative learning. He went well beyond the Primary Four general studies curriculum on the topic of water, which was confined in textbooks, he said, to superficial information.

His students were ready to go further, electing to explore the issue of pollution in Hong Kong. They collected water samples and devised experiments to measure water quality, using filters and microscopes to observe bacteria.

They also wanted to find out about hydro-electric power. Mr Lam asked them to look up some information during the holidays. When they returned he found they had completed the project on their own. Some had even visited power stations. Others had found out information about the Three Gorges and US hydro plants. One student had made a Power Point presentation. He helped them round up their work by leading a debate about whether the Three Gorges project should go ahead.

The research techniques used in the pollution experiment were not normally taught before Form Three at secondary level, he said.

Mr Lam's approach posed a dilemma for one teacher, who questioned what he should teach if students already knew what they were due to study in later years.

'In secondary school, the curriculum is tight. We can't ask students what they want to learn because of the curriculum,' he said.

Mr Lam had little sympathy. 'We have to teach the curriculum for exams but that doesn't mean we don't do more than that,' he said. He told the South China Morning Post after the conference that how you did that was a matter of professional judgment. If students had the potential, it was the duty of their teacher to challenge them.

However, Mr Lam does not see his approach as the outcome of education reform. For him, it is part and parcel of good practice.

His attitude to teaching is supported by his principal, Gloria Chan Leung Suk-ching. 'The important thing is the belief that all things that are good for students are possible,' she said.

Teresa Ho Wing-sze, a teacher at ELCHK Lutheran Secondary School, said there was a battle between the theory and reality of a freer learning culture. 'Reducing the number of exams is a good idea,' she said. 'The reality is that there is matriculation and university admission. Students have to be at the top to go to university.'

Professor Scardamalia, creator of the Knowledge Building project that HKU's CITE is participating in, also spoke of the constraints on innovation. These were students' and teachers' time and the growing divide between those who had more opportunities to build their knowledge and those who didn't.

'You can engage in deep understanding or concentrate on the test. There is a conflicting message,' she said. 'There is a notion that students don't like to go deep. But once they do there is no stopping them. My belief is that if we really understand the process of innovation we can do justice to embedding it in our work.'

Vincent Leung Wing-sang, chairman of HKUGA's parent teacher association, said the new culture of learning required everyone to act as role models.

Parent education, he said, was a crucial part of the reform process. 'If I want my children to read a lot, I have to read. If want them to be honest, I have to be honest.'

However, some were not convinced. Xian Jinwei, who teaches at Xianggan Putonghua Yanxishe Primary School of Science and Creativity in Tin Shui Wai, said: 'We are making revolution rather than education reform. It is like the Cultural Revolution. The thinking is that traditional education is incorrect - we have to get rid of it. But I don't think so.'

Mrs Law was impressed by what she heard from the students. She reinforced the message that teachers should trust children more to undertake self-learning.

'Listening to the voices of students confirms the direction of the reforms,' she said. The problem, she added, was that adults did not always share their views.