Teacher; Born November 5, 1944; Died March 21, 2008. Marion Mackenzie, who has died aged 63, was a teacher who returned to the profession after raising three boys to become a respected special-needs educator.
Her childhood was spent in Springburn, Glasgow, the daughter of John and Isabella McLaren; she was the youngest of three sisters. She graduated from Jordanhill College of Education in 1965 and then taught in the city at Hydepark and Golfhill primary schools. She also taught in Falkirk, at Comely Park, before becoming a mother.
In the mid-1980s, she returned to teaching when Dawson Park School in Falkirk gave her the start she wanted in special education. Mackenzie taught there until she was appointed as a senior teacher at Lochies School in Clackmannan in 1990.
This was a rich and fulfilling period in her professional life as she found her niche in a supportive team that shared the values of respect and care for their charges. Mackenzie arrived there at a time when approaches to educating children with moderate learning difficulties were on the point of changing, with a new emphasis on supporting children in their own local school.
She became an enthusiastic and skilled member of the Inclusion Support Team which pioneered this work. She was known for her ability to help the pupils become more positive about their school experience, to make sure the curriculum and the learning environment were responsive to their needs, and to forge good relationships with parents and teachers.
Mackenzie retired in April 2005 but continued to help when required. During her years of employment she found time for study and graduated with a BA from the Open University in 2001.
On retirement, she took the chance to act on her long-held wish to share in the work of the local Children's Panel. She sailed through the required training, making, as she did so, new and lasting friendships. The skills and values she had shown in teaching were again on display as she spent long hours poring over reports to ferret out the key elements of a child's story.
Having to give up this work saddened her. She also involved herself in the local Carers' Befrienders Project. Mackenzie saw her teaching and work with vulnerable children not merely as job but as a vocation.
Until the day before her death she continued to nurture her family: her husband David, her sisters Morag and Isobel, her sons Graham, Andrew and Ewan, her daughters-in-law Chikako and Aisling, and granddaughter Hana.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article