The College Street School principal won the Ricoh Otago Primary Principals Association Prestigious Study Award and plans to use it to attend the 14th International Conference on Thinking, in Kuala Lumpur next June.
"I put the application in, but as part of a defence mechanism, I put it to the back of my mind and forgot about it so I wouldn't be disappointed if I didn't get it.
"It was a surprise and a pleasure when they announced I had won."
Mr Tenbeth, who has been a teacher for 32 years and a principal for 27 years, said it was the first time he had won the award.
The topic for his study was inspired by the revised curriculum, which had introduced some new key competencies, one of which was thinking, he said.
"It's a new concept for teachers - they are still exploring ways to enhance thinking skills in pupils, and my attendance at the conference is designed to help that."
Mr Tenbeth said he would spend about a week out of the four weeks awarded learning from keynote speakers at the conference, including world leaders in research on thinking Edward de Bono, Art Costa and Howard Gardner.
On his return, Mr Tenbeth will put together a "package" aimed at supporting and helping teachers in Otago to develop pupils' thinking skills.
