R F Mackenzie (1910–1987), a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

educationalist Education sciences, also known as education studies or education theory, and traditionally called ''pedagogy'', seek to describe, understand, and prescribe education including education policy. Subfields include comparative education, educationa ...

and headteacher, was one of the most original and controversial thinkers in 20th century Scotland. He was born in

Garioch Garioch (, , ) is one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It has a population of 46,254 (2006 estimate), which gives it the largest population of Aberdeenshire's six committee areas. The Garioch consists primarily of the distric ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

and attended

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational private school for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Background Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th cent ...

and the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. Following active service in the RAF during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he qualified as a teacher. He was an advocate of the abolition of

corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...

and he endeavoured to promote a progressive

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

secondary schools A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

. Mackenzie published his opinions in a series of books in which he challenged the dominance of exams and a utilitarian educational ethos. RF Mackenzie wrote and published three books, often referred to as 'the trilogy', while he was headteacher at Braehead Junior Secondary School in Buckhaven. * ''A Question of Living'', published in 1963 * ''Escape from the Classroom'', published in 1965 - Introduction by Gavin Maxwell * ''The Sins of the Children'', published in 1967 In April 1974 he was dismissed from his headteacher post in Summerhill Academy in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

following public criticism of his liberal approach to school discipline, particularly his ban on corporal punishment of girls in the school. RF Mackenzie wrote his own story of the events at Summerhill Academy, which led to his dismissal as headteacher. The 'Unbowed Head', gives a remarkable insight into staff, pupils, administrators and politicians at that time. * ''The Unbowed Head'', published in 1976 - foreword by

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...

References

Scottish educators 1910 births 1987 deaths People educated at Robert Gordon's College {{educationist-stub

Further reading

References