Everyone questions their abilities

“I have twenty kids in each classroom that I can influence, inspire, or teach critical thinking. I teach multiple classes, and as a result, I have an impact on many children’s lives. That’s the beauty of the teaching profession,” says Daniel Pražak, a teacher, education populariser, and PhD student at the Faculty of Education of Charles University.

So many roles leave me wondering, who is Daniel Pražák, really? He replies candidly, “When I have to talk about myself at length or introduce myself, I always feel like I am going to break out in a rash. What to say that doesn’t sound stupid and at the same time describes what I do? Lately I’ve been referred to more and more often as a ‘populariser of teaching’, which I actually really like,” Daniel Pražák explains with a wry smile. How did a history and science teacher become an influencer with more than 23,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter? “Around five years ago I realised that when people talk about teaching on Twitter, it’s usually in the negative; positive comments were completely absent. So I thought that I would try to use that and eke out a space in this ‘free ecological niche’,” Pražák says. His approach is considered so novel it is now often used as an example in marketing training on brand strategy.

Countering negativity

The idea for a podcast series titled Hovory z kabinetu (Talks from the Teachers’ Office, or Study) was similar. “When the media talked positively about schools, it was usually only Prague schools or private schools that were mentioned and otherwise it was a wasteland – ‘Mordor’. But again, this is not true at all! So I thought I’d try and bring positive stories into the public space through podcasts,” the innovator says. As host, he is always delighted when his guests are then consequently ‘discovered’ by the broader media and gain wider traction.

Daniel Pražák likes to say that the media space is infinite and anyone can communicate their topics and he often prepares teachers for media appearances. “It’s not rocket science; you just have to prepare. It’s good to think about the main message in advance and to allow for the need for simplification – journalistic shorthand. I really like what science journalist Petr Koubský wrote: ‘If you are reading a popularisation article about your field, be aware that you are not the target audience.’ And I always try to stress that a media article is not a direct outlet for fellow teachers,” he recounts, “that is important.” Around five years ago I realised that when people talk about teaching on Twitter, it’s usually in the negative – positive comments were completely absent.

Open to better learning

“I believe that if you strive for something good and give it your best effort, you will succeed,” he was quoted in the Tajný učitel (Secret Teacher) blog. What is he striving for now? “Right now I primarily want to finish my PhD,” Daniel laughs, “ but in the bigger picture, I want to help create a better world. I know it sounds clichéd, but I have 20 kids in every classroom that I can influence, inspire, teach to think critically and verify facts. I teach in multiple classrooms, so it scales, and as a result, I have an impact on many lives. That’s the beauty of the teaching profession.”

Otevřeno (Open) is a non-profit association that also seeks change from within. About seven years ago, a number of pedagogical students got together in Brno and decided they wanted to prepare for the teaching profession differently. They approached other faculties, and a student organisation was formed, which grew into a nationwide movement today that brings together students, teachers and academics. What are they about? “Together, they are working for change and community support,” says Pražák, who was also a part of the initiative. And he points out that thanks to the group’s focus, there have been significant changes for the better even since his own student days.

From Penny to Dissertation

Daniel Pražák is a PhD student at the Faculty of Education; how is the dissertation coming along? “Oh, she’s good and she’s not as afraid anymore.” Come again?! “She still pees on the corner of the bed sometimes,” the teacher says with a laugh. He quickly explains. At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Pražák adopted a cat someone had named Penny, but he soon renamed her Dissertation. “Who wants a cat named after a supermarket? She’s a wonderful topic of conversation. And since I adopted her during the first wave of the pandemic, she experienced most of the online teaching, training and workshops with me – mostly behind my neck, nibbling on my ear, so she’s become quite famous,” he says. His Dissertation has become, among other things, the heroine of the @edukocka Instagram account, where the educator shares teaching tips. Who else can boast such a loveable, erm, cat?

How schools cooperate

His actual dissertation explores how schools collaborate, inspire each other or exchange innovative ideas including what works best and where the barriers lie. “Although collaborations exist, no one in the Czech Republic has studied them much scientifically. We know much more about the situation abroad, which was also the activity of my first two years of my PhD. I had to read an enormous number of foreign articles, which gave me a good information base and an overview that I can draw from and use as needed,” the doctoral student says. “For example, during Covid, it was confirmed that schools that were connected, and shared capacity or teaching materials, were better off. But in some specific cases – for example, when a school was very small – sharing paradoxically meant much more work, which even the school itself might not have realised. It’s important to have situations backed up by data.”

Honesty about mistakes

Daniel Pražák’s public speaking is unique in another respect: he’s not afraid to admit mistakes. He will calmly say that something went wrong or he was under stress and that he needs to think about his own wellbeing. What made him do that? “The first time I was asked, quite seriously, if I ever had a bad lesson. I remember blurting out, ‘Yeah, we all do!’ And that’s when I realised that we often don’t talk about it at all. That it’s not just beginning teachers who may feel that others around them are all great and flawless while they’re the only ones failing. We all think at one moment that we might not be cut out for it…,” he explains the topic he and his colleagues are trying to bring into the public sphere.

His advice? Not to sugar-coat anything. “It’s important to stick to reality. If I’m introducing something new when I’m teaching, it’s very likely to fail the first time, maybe even the second or third. But that’s no reason to walk away from it; rather, you need to look at why something isn’t working,” Pražák suggests. Sometimes all you need to do is spend more time on a topic to you’re trying to explain or show to others.

Education after Covid

In the spring of 2020, the world was hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which had an impact on education. As we still well remember, the system was left reeling and the impact since has not fully been tallied, which many consider to be a mistake. “Distance learning left a huge mess. I teach the higher grades at a primary school and there are classes where the impact is still evident: on relationships, on behaviour, in psychological problems… There are many children who started the second grade or even first grade of primary school – developmentally important moments – online. This is an unresolved issue and we need to work with children and with teachers who went through this,” the researcher and educator says. 

On the other hand, many wonderful support activities were created during lockdowns, and teachers learned and shared them. Things were not all bad. “The learning of the future is not online learning, or at least I hope it isn’t. But Covid has shown us the importance of reflecting what we teach and being more selective about what is really relevant. I think there has also been a greater understanding between parents and teachers. But most importantly, as teachers, we learned to share preparation, approaches, materials. Thanks to online teaching, it was easy to connect with a class in Ostrava, for example, and that has stayed with us.”

Education doesn’t end with classic schooling. For example, Daniel Pražák taught himself how to photograph like a professional just by watching various tutorials on YouTube. “I started to ask professionals to give me the most critical feedback: how could I improve, what would they do differently… And at an event I met a well-known photographer who was going to tutor for the first time. He was very nervous. So I gave him some tips on how to talk in front of people, and we became friends and he gave me feedback on photography. “Today’s world demands lifelong learning. At the same time, thanks to the internet and social networks, we have an incredible opportunity to learn from the best from all over the world. Let’s take advantage of it,” Pražák says.