Probably never before has any colleague come to a conversation about teaching so precisely prepared. Pavel Lošák of the Institute of Process Engineering, who was voted the most popular FME teacher in master’s studies in this year's survey among students, brought along several mind maps. They are all concerned with the same thing: they are searching for an answer to what makes a good teacher and what is behind quality education. And that's something Pavel Lošák thinks about a lot.

I see a mind map here that describes a good and popular teacher. Is that what you have created today or is it some mantra of yours?

No, it is not even my work, I just modified it. It has been hanging on my noticeboard for about ten years and I read it once in a while. The brain perceives it and gradually things change. I wish I were like that, but I'm definitely not. However, it is the direction I want to pursue.

I understand that it's hard to talk about your strengths, people are shy. Still, can you say what pedagogical ideals you already meet?

I think one of the things that students perceive as part of being a good teacher is that I've always enjoyed teaching. Teaching is not something I force myself to do. And the second thing is a certain authenticity in the fact that I teach what I also do. This makes teaching easier for me, I don't have to memorize anything, and the teaching flows nicely because I just tell students what I have experienced during my time in the field. Last but not least, I have sensitivity to students, and the ability to perceive the class and the atmosphere in it, that's a very important thing.

What does a good classroom atmosphere feel like?

It must be supportive, no one may ridicule anyone, and students ought to cooperate. The atmosphere in the classroom does not only differ from group to group but also changes during the semester, from the first lecture to the last one it looks different. The teacher is a kind of guide, a helper who sets the atmosphere to a certain extent and passes on information, but at the same time checks if the students are listening, and if they can absorb what the teacher is telling them.

Here I see a trend in recent years – the time for which students can keep their attention in the lecture is shortening. I used to teach in blocks during which I spoke, then I asked questions and then presented a video, story or an app. I have to shorten the teaching blocks now because students can't keep their attention as long as they used to. But also other things are changing: the students used to be afraid to ask, and they lacked good presentation skills, but that has changed for the better. It is necessary to realize that every year when new students come to my lecture, I am a year older, and thus I am getting more and more distant from them. That's why it is also necessary to listen to students, to perceive that they simply need something to be conveyed differently because they are different. The older I get, the harder and harder it will be for me, so I consider one of the tasks of a teacher to be looking for successors.

And are you already looking for one?

Yes, I am trying to find colleagues for my team who enjoy teaching and find this activity fulfilling. I think I'm doing well, the students praise these young colleagues very much. There are usually one or two people in each grade who everyone goes to consult. If students don't know something, they don't immediately go to ask the teacher, but they go to their classmate who they know understands and can explain it. It is ideal to identify such a person who is excited about teaching and engage them.

Did you similarly get into teaching?

At first, I didn't teach lectures, but as a PhD student, I led the seminars. The Institute supported me at the time and paid for a two-week course, which gave me a lot. Teaching is a lot easier when you have something to build on. Later, I took over another teaching from my former supervisor who decided to leave for the commercial sphere, and I completely redesigned the teaching to suit my style. As far as the form is concerned, I was very inspired by the online Python programming course offered by MIT. I think it took thirteen weeks and the subject was extremely demanding for me. But the form in which they passed it on, everything was handled perfectly. They used short educational blocks interspersed with verification of learned topics. And that's what I'm trying to do now.

Do you have any other pedagogical role models besides MIT, I mean a specific person?

One of the best teachers who ever taught me was Professor Doupovec, who presented the material in such a way that it was not difficult to learn it. And I think it works in general: the ability to teach students a difficult thing in such a way that they do not even realize it is difficult. Another role model would be my primary school teacher of mathematics, who had the gift of teaching in a way that was understood by everyone.

You mentioned at the beginning that you enjoy teaching. What specifically do you like about being a teacher?

I think I enjoy seeing people grow and teaching them something. I like to share my enthusiasm with them. And it doesn't make me feel good when teaching fails. It is something that has always been in me: even as a student, I tried to explain everything to everyone.

Going back to your schema, or mind map, one of the key areas here is "approach to students". What do you consider to be the basis of a good teacher-student relationship?

As I have already mentioned, I consider the overall environment of the classroom to be crucial. It is also important that no one is afraid to ask, no question must be seen as stupid. I consider it essential to be interested in the subject and students. Everything else evolves from this: being accommodating, willing to advise, uniting students, drawing them into the game, and checking whether they can follow and understand me. Ask for feedback from the students and work with it.

I would also point out fairness because I feel that cheating is a huge obstacle to the quality of education. If the teacher does not stop it, cheating ends up holding everyone back: the cheating person has lost the opportunity to learn the subject and those who have learned it are demotivated. That's why I emphasize teamwork in my teaching and then an oral exam where I want to see that they all have understood the subject. This is more important to me than asking for a huge amount of information that students can find elsewhere. In this, I am trying to find a balance so that students learn enough, but at the same time just enough to keep their enthusiasm for the thing going. But this is not supposed to mean that teaching is easy and students get everything "for free", quite on the contrary. In the seminars, we run project-based teaching in teams, which we deliberately set up so that students get a hard time. My experience is that one feels much better – not only at school but in life in general – when one receives the well-deserved dopamine. Not the cheap one that social networks feed us, but the real one that comes when I work hard for a long time and achieve something.

You are now working on the topic of quality of education at BUT in the team of Vice-Rector Vítězslav Máša. How do you think the school is doing and how could the quality be further improved?

I think that we are no longer doing badly in the quality of teaching, although we can and want to continue working on it. First of all, it is clear to me that I do not know the entire BUT perfectly, not even our entire faculty. The first step will therefore be to talk to teachers from different faculties and workplaces about their perspectives and what they need because their needs will logically be different. And support them in this. It is certainly not possible to follow a restrictive path, ordering or banning something will lead nowhere. It is a long-term task, and I think it is crucial to identify people who have the potential to become a good teacher and provide them with the conditions to grow. I think this is the only way to achieve real and long-term quality: people who want to teach and have the background and support to do so.