Award for teacher who loves her job

TRAVEL PLANS: Yvette Krohn-Isherwood plans to use her fellowship to attend an international education conference in the US.PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

You are a lucky person if you find something you love to do - and even luckier if you find a job doing it.

That's how Yvette Krohn-Isherwood feels about teaching English at Trident High School in Whakatane.

The former John Paul College assistant principal has been teaching for 22 years and was recently awarded the Woolf Fisher Trust Fellowship.

"To absolutely love going to work every morning, even after more than two decades, is really special. I love every minute that I'm in the classroom teaching."

The fellowship, open to primary, intermediate and secondary school principals, as well as secondary school teachers, was designed to send leading educators overseas to examine different teaching practices.

The Woolf Fisher trustees award the fellowship to recipients who demonstrate some of the qualities which Sir Woolf himself embodied including integrity, leadership, boldness of vision and exceptional zeal, keenness and capacity for work.

Mrs Krohn-Isherwood said she was honoured to be recognised in such a significant way.

"Every year you teach, you always have students who appreciate the work you do, but it is nice to get this kind of formal acknowledgement."

After migrating to New Zealand from South Africa, Mrs Krohn-Isherwood moved to Rotorua and started teaching at John Paul College.

From there she moved to Christchurch to complete a degree in philosophy before moving to Whakatane to teach at Trident High School.

"I got amazing grounding at John Paul College and of all the places to end up in New Zealand, Rotorua was the best. When we moved to Whakatane from Christchurch, even though it wasn't Rotorua, it felt like we were coming home."

Mrs Krohn-Isherwood said her passion for philosophy came through her curriculum.

"I've always wanted to teach and I love when students challenge me and develop their own critical thinking. In a world dominated by the media, I think it's vitally important to move away from rote learning and teach students to think independently."

Mrs Krohn-Isherwood plans to use her fellowship to attend an international education conference in New York or California and observe teaching pedagogy (the science and art of education) in four US schools.