Hello Mr. Merchant!
Congratulations again on being awarded the Peter Paulík Staff Award 2025.
The Sučany Alumni Staff Award was renamed this year in memory of Mr. Peter Paulík, a co-founder of Sučany Alumni and a long-time teacher and your colleague at GBAS. What does receiving this award mean to you?
It means a huge amount to me. The reason that I teach is for the students, and to receive this award hopefully means that I’m doing something right! At least sometimes! I must also say – as I did when I accepted the award in front of the school – that it means even more to receive an award that has been named in honour of Peter Paulík. Peter was a unique individual: eccentric; generous; sometimes infuriating; full of ideas. He was an important part of the school for a long time, and I doubt that many students who were taught by him ever forgot him…
We first met in 2001, my first year at GBAS. Time flies! But when exactly did your GBAS journey begin?
It began in 1998. I had only been qualified as a teacher for a couple of years and I had made the ridiculous choice of deciding to teach in London. I was already considering if I had chosen the right profession and was looking for a way to escape the extremely stressful conditions that I was working under – at least for a while.
And when and why did you choose Slovakia in the first place? Did you take a wrong turn? 😉
Not exactly… I applied to an organisation that supplied English-speaking teachers to countries still recovering from their Warsaw Pact pasts and they had two vacancies for chemistry teachers: one in Sučany; and one in Olomouc in the Czech Republic. So I chose… Olomouc! Unfortunately (but later, of course, I considered it fortunately…), that position had already been taken, so I was sent to Sučany. The school, my colleagues and the wonderful students rekindled my enthusiasm for teaching, and I also found another, more personal, reason to stay in Slovakia and make my relationship with the country closer and more permanent…
I remember that you had a “GBAS hiatus” a couple of years later. What did you do during this period and why did you come back to GBAS and remain here all those years? Didn’t you receive an offer you couldn’t refuse from another school, say, Eton College? 😊
After getting married, and while my wife was on maternity leave, we decided to try living in Britain. I found a better school than the one where I’d been teaching before in an unexceptional town (Swindon) surrounded by beautiful places. However, the system in UK schools was driving me crazy – mainly the huge amount of paperwork – and other reasons also pushed us towards a return to Slovakia after three years. Unfortunately, there were no longer jobs for us at GBAS, so I took a job at a private school in Žilina. After a few years I was tempted back to GBAS and, to be honest, I cannot now imagine teaching anywhere else. I love teaching here. Even if that Eton College offer were to FINALLY come through, I cannot imagine leaving my students here to pander to the needs of arrogant, privileged snobs…
It is now 24 years later. How has GBAS changed over the decades and what has remained and is still making the school feel special to you?
There have been changes: most of all, the size of the school. When there were only 65 students in every year, the school really felt tightly-knitted together: everyone seemed to know everyone and nearly all people wanted to take part in everything that was going on. Since its expansion to about 100 students a year, it feels less like a family, and more like a small town. It still has that same community feeling, but there are more students that are more content to ‘only’ learn and not play a part in other parts of school life. I also feel that English was used more by teachers and students on the corridors, but that might just be my viewing the past though rose-tinted spectacles… HOWEVER, I still feel the special atmosphere in the school: the building, the garden, the fact that it is in a village all give the school a very particular feeling that I love. Then there are the traditions that I adore every year: the Christmas Assembly; Halloween; Hodžafest; the initiation show; the whole-year Ribbon Party; the Garden Party; etc. Of course, above everything, it is the students that make it special: I can still enter a lesson feeling down and leave it in a much, much better mood. Most students can still judge when to have fun and banter, but then know when it is time to get serious and work. That makes my job so much easier and more pleasurable.
Based on the numerous nominations you received, the students among other things appreciate your personality, style of teaching, your humour and the time you dedicate to afterschool activities. Have you always been like this or have you evolved as a teacher throughout your career?
My style of teaching has adapted to the students that I have. When I taught in London, I simply couldn’t be myself – the students would take advantage of me if I wasn’t strict and I couldn’t joke around with most of them. At GBAS I am able to be silly – ridiculous even – but I know that most students will still get all the work done. We enjoy the lessons and they still learn. Win-win.
What subjects do you currently teach and what afterschool activities do you participate in?
I only teach chemistry, although I occasionally cover lessons of English, which I enjoy: especially the literature lessons. I enjoy helping take the first years on their UK trip most years, even though the journey from Slovakia to Britain (and back) on the bus is no joke. I love running my clubs: My English Culture Club allows me to expose the students to the best of British music, comedy, cinema, TV, tea and traditions; my Science Fiction Club allows me to share one of my greatest passions with the students. I also help the students to organise their Dungeons and Dragons Club – I was a part of such a role-playing games club when I was at school, and remember how much fun it could be.
What are some of your tips and tricks that you would like to share with your colleagues and the entire world on how to make chemistry or any other subject more interesting, enjoyable and fun? Where do you draw inspiration from?
I can only say what works for me at GBAS – as I’ve said, my methods are far from successful everywhere. I think that it is very important to be able to be yourself in front of the class, and to be as honest as you can be with your students. Pretending to know something when you don’t can lose you respect. I have also had a lot of experience now, so I am prepared for most questions and know how to deal with them. When I started out, I had to prepare much more for every lesson. It is also important to be patient; just because you’ve heard a question a hundred times before, it’s vital to remember that this student is asking it for the first time. In general, if you put more into a lesson, in terms of energy and interaction with the students, you get more out of it. I can’t keep up with that every single minute of every single lesson, but I do my best. My inspiration was from my favourite teachers at school, especially my chemistry teacher, Dennis Russell, who was a great teacher and a hilarious, cultured, empathetic, lovely person.
Which Bond is your favourite?
I can answer this in several ways:
1) Favourite Bond in British culture? Michael Bond: creator of Paddington Bear and all-round nice guy;
2) Favourite Bond, James Bond? Roger Moore: Not the best actor, or the most convincing in action scenes, but he was the first one I watched as a kid…
3) Favourite Bond as a chemistry teacher? I’ve always been partial to a good dative bond and how they help bring colour to transition metal compounds, but I’ve got to go for hydrogen bonds (even if they’re not strictly actually bonds; only intermolecular forces). The stuff those guys do to the properties of water is just spectacular!
Would you like to say or share anything else with the GBAS community?
Just remember to be kind and tolerant. The world needs more people looking after each other. Oh, and come and visit! It’s always good to see you! And bring presents! 😉
BIO
Mr. Phillip Merchant, BSc. PGCE is from beautiful Bristol in the United Kingdom. He attended Cotham Grammar School and graduated in Food Science from King’s College, London, before receiving his Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Bristol. He had taught at Winchmore Hill School in north London before he arrived in Slovakia in 1998 and started his tenure at BASG, which was shortly to become GBAS. He has taught chemistry, physics, biology and some English. He also runs a variety of clubs and helps organise the 1st Year UK trip at GBAS. He is married and has two fantastic children. He is a fan of Bristol Bears rugby club, England cricket team, science fiction, springtime, The Blue Aeroplanes (& indie guitar rock – and lots of other types of music – in general), the sea, tolerance and kindness, wildlife, DC comics, Milk Chocolate Digestives, Crispy Bacon Flavoured Wheat Crunchies, and, of course, coffee. His hobbies are: reading; cinema; watching and identifying birds and butterflies in the garden; theatre; pub quizzes; as well as: weasel-juggling; upside-down free-climbing; international espionage; and inventing imaginary hobbies to make himself sound interesting.
