COPYRIGHT LAW IN TEACHING

Copyright law protects authors from others benefitting from the author’s work without the author’s consent or knowledge. This applies not only to authors of works of art, but also to authors of textbooks. Whilst there are a few exceptions in the field of education, in general principle it is not permitted for teachers to copy and send textbooks or parts of textbooks to their students.

Regarding these exceptions, they are as follows; teachers may copy (physically or electronically) parts of textbooks only if it is for their own needs- our own education, or inspiration for lesson planning and so forth.

Teachers can provide their students (physically or electronically) a page from a textbook only if that material will constitute part of the lesson, and not constitute the majority or the whole lesson. This can be a picture, or a single exercise etc. 

However, even in the case of these exceptions it is necessary to cite the author on worksheets or shared presentations for example, the same as is necessary when writing a dissertation.

Example citations

• Holá, L. – Bořilová, P.: Čeština expres A1/1. Akropolis 2015. (For illustrative purposes in teaching Czech as a foreign language)

• Holá, L. – Bořilová, P.: Čeština expres A1/1. Akropolis 2015. Foto: Pixabay.com and Unsplash.com. (For illustrative purposes in teaching Czech as a foreign language)

This also applies for photos and pictures. Pictures and photos that we find through the internet usually have their own author, whose rights we would infringe without citation. However, there are several websites which offer the free use of the pictures and photos listed as they are not subject to copyright law or the authors have waived these rights.

Examples of these sites are: 

• Pixabay.com – photos (free)

• Canva.com – photos (partly free, partly paid)

• Flickr.com – photos, which belong to the All Creative Commons licence (free)

• Unsplash.com – photos (free)

• Flaticon.com – icons, emoticons, illustrations (free)

• Freeimages.com – photos (free)

This also applies to the work our students produce- we cannot use the works of our students without their consent or knowledge. Of course, it is possible to reach an agreement with your students and also give them a short agreement to sign.

Example agreement:

I agree with the use of my texts, recordings and photos from my lessons of Czech for foreigners for professional use by XYZ.

In Prague on …………………… Name: ……………………………………………………………

Signature: ………………………………………………………..

Resources:

https://www.msmt.cz/file/10229_1_2/#:~:text=a (22. 1. 2021)

https://www.eduin.cz/clanky/rizeni-skoly-zakonne-a-nezakonne-uziti-ucebnic-odbornych-publikaci-a-literarnich-del-pri-vyuce/ (22. 1. 2021)

Copyright law: 

https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2000-121 (22. 1. 2021)