“School should not be a museum of the past.” Global Teacher Prize Finalist Turns Education Into a L
www.posiv.cz ǀ 19
EDUCATION
Why do you believe it is important for
education to respond to current global
issues? How do you work with them,
and do you feel that Czech education
as a whole is responding to this need?
A school should mirror reality, not act
as a museum of the past. Young people
today grow up in a world full of questions
— climatic, cultural and technological
— and school must help them read these
questions and form their own attitudes.
In my teaching, I therefore connect
literature, ethics and current social events
so that students can see the links between
what they learn and what is truly happening
around them. In this way, education
stops being merely the accumulation
of knowledge and instead develops
empathy, critical thinking and the ability
to actively engage with the world around
them.
Your projects (such as Book Box
or Locals) reach beyond the school
itself – where do you see the value
in connecting school, community
and the business world? What do these
projects bring to students?
A school has the responsibility to awaken
active citizenship in students and nurture
a sense of shared responsibility for
the world they live in. Projects like Book
Box or Locals allow them to experience
that their ideas and work can have a real
impact. They connect the school with
the community and support volunteering,
cooperation and creativity. Such
experiences shape young people far more
than any test – they teach responsibility,
empathy and the courage to act.
What do you see as the biggest
challenges for Czech teachers today?
In the year 2000, when I started teaching,
a teacher prepared lessons, taught them
and occasionally did supervision duty.
Today, on top of that, they must share
materials online, answer emails regularly,
collaborate across subjects, organise
projects, address students’ socio-
emotional needs, act as mentors, run
extracurricular activities, communicate
with parents, stay up to date with
pedagogical trends, take part in training
and international programmes, write grant
applications, and plan cooperation with
the community and institutions – and yet
there are still only the same 24 hours
in a day. Schools need teachers who
burn with passion, but do not burn out:
they need time for preparation, reflection
and self-care, less bureaucracy and more
trust and collaboration.
Your work certainly does not end in the
classroom – you lead DofE, coordinate
Erasmus+, mentor and lecture. What
do these activities give you and where
do you find the time and energy for
them?
The people I grow with give me energy –
students and colleagues who want to create
things with real impact. Every meaningful
project we do together. In education
I have found what the Japanese call ikigai
– the reason we get up in the morning.
A place where what we love, what we are
good at, what the world needs and what
we can be rewarded for all meet. When
you do work that brings all these elements
together, everything becomes easier.
Thank you for the interview.
Helping students develop
the skills they need to thrive—
crical thinking, collaboraon,
understanding of context.