Ep 016: How to Teach Good Manners

Do your pupils greet you when they enter your classroom? Do they thank you at the end of a lesson? And when they need a pen, do they ask politely or simply announce their stationery emergency and expect you to come running?

In this second instalment of our series on character education, Pritesh & Neena tackle manners, politeness and respect. Inspired by a brilliant question from listener Claire, we explore how to turn good manners from something we hope pupils will demonstrate into something we explicitly teach and embed.

Neena shares the three 'golden opportunities' she used in her Manners Matter initiative at a previous school, with lots of practical strategies and scripts for teaching pupils to be more polite. We discuss what to do when pupils forget their manners, how to respond to a sarcastic 'Good morning, sir', and why simply reminding pupils to say 'please' and 'thank you' isn't enough.

We also have a rather fascinating disagreement about whether teachers should thank pupils for doing the right thing. What's the difference between praise and gratitude? And could saying 'thank you' actually be the wrong response?

Along the way, Neena reveals her love of pumpkin spice lattes, while Pritesh recounts the deeply embarrassing experience of ordering a latte in Italy. Character-building stuff, apparently.

If you're enjoying Operation Education, we'd be incredibly grateful if you could leave us a five-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. We will use our magnificent manners and say: thank you!

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Hosts: Pritesh Raichura and Neena Sharma

Operation Education is a Bunsen Blue production.