Rotorua teacher Tricia Dender, 71, retires and reflects on her ‘neat 52 years of teaching’

As a girl, Tricia Dender loved school so much that she cried when it was over. So she became a teacher, and stayed in the job for 52 years. She’s worked in four Rotorua schools, sharing her love of learning with generations of families. As she retires, aged 71, she tells reporter Emma Houpt about her “neat world” and “perfect farewell”.

After more than five decades in the classroom, Tricia Dender still loved her job.

But about a month ago, the 71-year-old Ōwhata School teacher woke in the early hours of the morning thinking, “Nope, I have had enough.”

“There was nothing wrong – I still had a fabulous day and all that. I just thought I want to have some time for me now,” she recalls.

“I am feeling good, I am healthy. This is just the time.”

She has worked at four schools in Rotorua since starting in the profession aged 20. This included Western Heights Primary School, Lake Rerewhakaaitu School, Selwyn Primary and Ōwhata School.

During this time there was not one day when she did not want to go to work, she said.

“I wake up every morning and I look forward to going to my job. How many people can say that?”

About three years ago Dender – a passionate science educator – decided to go from working full-time to covering three junior classes twice a week.

She is now looking forward to travelling around New Zealand and spending time with family, including her grandchildren aged 15, 18 and 22.

Dender, known to many as Whaea Tricia, received a “perfect farewell” on Friday with Ōwhata students and staff gathering to celebrate her 35-year stint at the school. She was presented with a “really special” korowai (cloak) and students performed haka, she said.

“I had a neat 52 years of teaching and a wonderful send-off. I couldn’t hope for anything better.”

Reflecting on changes in the sector, Dender said she was most excited by the introduction of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories to the curriculum and a strong focus on caring for the environment.

Tricia Dender photographed in 2006. Photo / Stephen Parker

“At school, I could tell you the name of Henry VIII’s sixth wife. But I didn’t know anything about Māori history. We have been doing it at school and I think that’s important. It’s the best change,” she said.

She was also pleased corporal punishment was no longer allowed, saying she still remembered getting the strap in primary school for looking out the window after being told not to.

In recent years, Dender had noticed more mental health issues, with housing instability a “cause of stress for the kids”.

She put her success as a teacher down to “always keeping calm” and understanding children through being a parent.

“It’s about being calm and accepting them as they are.

“Sometimes the kids are cheeky, but I use my withering look and get it sorted out. I remember one boy was going to run away one day and I just held out my hand to him. And he just slowly walked back to me and he reached for my hand.”

She said she had wanted to be a teacher since childhood and “cried and cried” on her last day of secondary school because she did not want to leave.

“It’s a neat world, the world of teaching.”

Twelve years ago, Dender completed a six-month fellowship at Crown research institute Scion, where she studied forest protection. This sparked a passion for learning in nature, she said.

She taught all year levels throughout her career, but said she particularly enjoyed seeing how junior students “absorb the learning”.

She was in strong support of recent strike action, saying “if you want kids to have a good future, you have got to have good teachers”.

This required pay to match rising living costs and more release time, she said.

Tricia Dender says her sendoff on Friday was the "perfect farewell" after more than 30 years at Ōwhata School. Photo / Andrew Warner

Teaching was “hard work” that extended well beyond the hours of 9 until 3. She always kept a pen and paper on her bedside table to make notes of things keeping her awake at night, she said.

“You are thinking about the kids all the time.”

Asked her advice for beginning teachers, Dender was quick to reiterate the importance of work-life balance.

“In the weekend, have one day where you don’t do school stuff,” she said.

“Teachers give so much of themselves, you need to have time to put stuff back into you. I would say try and have a life balance, you’ll be better for it. It [teaching] can swallow you up if you aren’t careful.”

Multiple parents shared words of kindness about Dender on the school’s Facebook page, with one saying “thanks again, whaea, for all you have done for me and my three boys”.

Dender was overwhelmed by the “lovely” comments from the school community after it was announced she was retiring.

“It gets you in the heart.”

Principal Bob Stiles said Dender had taught “at least three generations” of some families and would be greatly missed.

“They [students] loved her. She had high standards and expectations of students and [would] back that up with support.”

Dender was most passionate about taking children into nature and “using the language of science to explore the environment,” he said.

Students were full of “awe and wonder” after these trips “so excited by their discoveries”.

He said Dender took him “under her wing” when he first started as principal in 2005. She was deputy principal at the time.