“In the survey, we also asked teachers what they consider to be the biggest problem in Czech education. They mentioned a wide range of issues, but a frequent complaint was the excessive number of students in each class or the constant changes that come with every new education minister. Teachers also believe that more educators with everyday classroom experience should be involved in approving school reforms,” summarized GTS Alive director Radek Schich.

Teachers, in their responses to the open-ended question about the biggest problems in Czech education, also mentioned underfunding, a shortage of teachers, lack of long-term vision, and excessive bureaucracy. There was also some self-criticism – some teachers reportedly resist lifelong learning and continue teaching using outdated methods established years ago.

Two somewhat opposing views also stood out regarding the theoretical vs. practical nature of teaching. Some teachers criticized the Czech education system for focusing too heavily on theoretical content without a clear link to applying knowledge in real life. Others expressed dissatisfaction with the increasingly dominant view that knowledge is secondary, can always be looked up, and that skills alone are sufficient. Some teachers also criticized inclusion, claiming it costs a lot without delivering results, and the abolition of special schools.

The survey also asked how important the role of a school’s headmaster or headmistress is for teachers' job satisfaction. Four-fifths of respondents rated school leadership as very important, and another seventeen percent rated it as quite important. The results thus confirmed once again the absolutely crucial role of school leadership and the importance of carefully selecting school principals in the Czech Republic.

The anonymous online survey by GTS Alive was conducted in June 2022 among 300 teachers from across the Czech Republic. 42 percent of them work at elementary schools, with slightly more from the lower secondary level than the primary level. Over 17 percent of respondents teach at grammar schools, and the rest work at vocational high schools and trade schools. GTS Alive frequently conducts similar surveys not only among teachers but also among pupils and students.

A selection of specific typical responses from teachers to the open-ended question “What do you consider the biggest problem of Czech education?”:

• The idea that knowledge is completely secondary, not needed at all, can be looked up anytime, and skills will replace everything. They won’t — without a huge set of things already stored in the head ahead of time, you won’t finish studying anything on time.
• The number of pupils in a class, there should be an assistant in every class at the primary level.
• Too large groups of children for one teacher. In all age categories, including kindergartens.
• Underfunding, lack of teachers (at our school, half the staff room is part-time external teachers, they are given scheduling priority because they can’t teach every day — and where are all those graduates of education faculties???); lack of strategy (education today is held together by sheer willpower, but everyone meddles in it — because everyone went to school, so they “understand”), lots of administrative tasks.
• Support for areas of education is based on political demand, based on what parents — voters — want: easily obtained education for their children (maybe we should start handing out high school diplomas at the school reception desk). Education in areas needed by manufacturing industry is not well supported.
• The general attitude of society towards upbringing and education. It seems to me that many people perceive school as a place where they can “drop off” their children and say, “school, take care of them.” At the same time, I also perceive a certain conservatism towards new teaching methods among the older generation of teachers.
• The principle of distribution of students in secondary education, a high percentage of students in academic-type grammar schools. Reduce grammar schools, which would raise and improve the level of students in vocational and apprentice schools.
• Too much theoretical subject matter without a direct connection to using the acquired knowledge in real life.
• Too many changes and no evaluation of how the changes have affected the quality of education.
• Too much bureaucracy and, in many cases, too much inertia in teaching style.
• Decisions are made by people who either have never been in practice or are so detached from it that their concepts are unusable in reality.
• Constant changes, every minister completely overhauls the system because everything done before was supposedly wrong. Also, it makes no sense to force schools to write their own curricula (ŠVP) when the Czech School Inspectorate requires it to be perfectly aligned with the national curriculum (RVP). Bureaucracy in education has grown to such proportions that there is barely any time left for the core of education — guiding students toward learning.
• Unsuitable conditions for sufficient development of children. Also, teachers who are burned out and follow outdated procedures that may have been modern 20 years ago, but times have changed. Teachers should constantly keep learning themselves. Unfortunately, the teaching population is aging. There’s also a problem in the upbringing of children. In my opinion, parents don’t spend enough time with their children, which is why conflicts between teachers and students are common.
• It would deserve greater financial support for improving teaching quality, incorporating more modern technology for teaching, which students would later use in practice. More support and partnerships with companies at vocational schools.
• More and more confirmations, signatures, reporting, justifications, verifications.
• Lowering requirements for students.
• Lots of administrative tasks and inclusive education. Teachers don’t have as much time for students with special educational needs (SEN) as in special schools. It was a big mistake to close special schools and integrate these students into current classes!
• An almost zero level of individualization. Everyone is measured by the same standard, there is no space for development according to personal abilities and preferences of students. They are forced into performance beyond their limits, which undermines their self-confidence as well as their belief in the usefulness of education. They waste their energy trying to catch up on what they are not good at instead of improving what they are.
• Inclusion — costs a lot of money with no effect...
• Inclusion, large numbers of students in classes, abolition of special schools — students worked in small groups with peers, had more manual activities so they could one day make a living with their hands and also experience success, which they won’t get in regular schools. Teaching assistants are expensive and often unnecessary; special educators were definitely more appropriate. I also dislike the abolition of unified curricula. When a student moves, both the child and the teacher who has to catch them up have problems. Basic education should be the same in all elementary schools.
• It is undervalued, both financially and socially. I just left an unventilated classroom where 30 children sit every hour all morning. Which adult would be able to endure that in their place?
• Still lacking a concept — what the high school graduation should look like, what fields are needed, how to connect with companies. Also, a high number of students per class (30–32)!
• Lying to ourselves about how everything is fine. Less flexibility. Centralization. Disadvantaging small (village) schools.
• Too few men in education, eight-year grammar schools, unified entrance exams.
• Frequent changes, almost something new with every government, no wait to assess the impact of the change, too few “ordinary” teachers from PRACTICE involved in approving changes — even though they have the most to say about actual teaching.
• Demotivation of teachers who want to improve things. People who have forgotten why they started this work and now teach out of inertia. Soul-crushing paperwork. Inflexible approach to preparing students for life in a rapidly changing world.
• Inability to dismiss incompetent colleagues.
• Incompetence of administrators, inability of the state to modernize the education system. The state can’t say what it wants school graduates to know. It clings to absurd standardized tests (JPZ, graduation exams). Schools, under pressure from the public, prepare children for these exams instead of for life. Instead of high-quality teaching based on a well-thought-out plan prepared by the state, schools have to create similar plans themselves. So each school teaches something different; the system is too fragmented.
• Lack of concept. That everything is expected of the school. That parents can interfere in everything and pressure you. That there’s still memorization instead of teaching what is needed in life (critical thinking, verifying information, collaboration, defending an opinion…)
• Unwillingness of some colleagues to continue learning until retirement.
• Too many children in classes, small classrooms, little money for teaching aids, little respect from parents (students) for teachers' work, parents sometimes think they know better how to teach than the teacher.
• Society’s view of work in education. Parents often can’t even handle their own children at home, yet they’re quick to criticize and contact the school inspection. And no one has yet understood that a teaching staff member in any position has vacation only during school holidays. We’d also love to take a cheap vacation during the school year.
• Lack of funding — also for school equipment, textbooks are often reused for a long time, teachers’ work is not understood as highly professional. I often hear, “I couldn’t do that,” yet it’s not socially recognized as a profession.

(respondents’ answers left in their original wording, including typos or mistakes)

Notes for editors:

GTS Alive s.r.o. in the Czech Republic issues and manages ISIC student cards and ISIC Scholar pupil cards, ITIC teacher cards, and, to a lesser extent, other cards. The company was founded in August 2000. Its predecessor in the Czech Republic was GTS International. GTS Alive s.r.o. is part of the international GTS Alive Group, headquartered in Prague, with branches in seventeen countries on four continents.

GTS Alive, through the ISIC PORT chip identification system, also provides many elementary and secondary schools with secure access to their buildings and an electronic attendance system. The company also facilitates travel or accident insurance for students.

For more information, contact:

Jan Šimral, media representative of GTS Alive
Tel.: +420 737 944 370
E-mail: info@jansimral.com