Editing Sorley MacLean (section)

===Later life===
[[File:Plockton - geograph.org.uk - 8277.jpg|thumb|left|Aerial view of [[Plockton]] in 1971]]
In 1956, MacLean was offered the position of [[head teacher]] of [[Plockton High School]] in [[Wester Ross]], not far from where his paternal grandmother's family had lived. It was a difficult assignment as the remote location was not attractive to teacher candidates, and MacLean frequently had to teach due to vacancies.<ref name="Plockton" /> While at Plockton, he promoted the use of [[Scottish Gaelic medium education]] and campaigned for a [[Scottish Highers|Highers]] exam for learners of Gaelic.{{r|Czech|p=127}} Before 1968, there was no separate exam for Gaelic learners, who had to compete with native speakers if they took Gaelic Highers. MacLean felt that this unfair policy discouraged many students from studying Gaelic, although he encouraged his students to take the exam even if they were not native speakers.{{r|interview|p=34}}{{efn-lr|According to MacLean, the number of students studying Gaelic "doubled, trebled, quadrupled, and more" as a result of the learners' exam becoming available.{{r|interview|p=34}}}} In 1966, he presented a paper to the Gaelic Society of Inverness outlining the practical issues in Gaelic education. MacLean pointed out that in continental Europe, it was not uncommon to study three or four languages in school. According to MacLean, Scottish children would benefit from studying three languages in school alongside English, and "surely it is not expecting too much of Gaelic patriotism to demand that Gaelic should be one of the three?"<ref name="Plockton" />{{efn-lr|Fully [[Gaelic medium education]], with all subjects taught in Gaelic, was inaugurated in 1985.{{r|gme|p=119}}}} MacLean set high academic expectations for his students{{r|hobit}} and also promoted shinty; in 1965, the Plockton team won the cup for [[Ross and Cromarty]].<ref name="Plockton" />

MacLean's many friends and visitors commented on his prodigious knowledge and deep interest in [[genealogy]] and local history.{{r|two|hobit}} He continued to participate in politics, eventually joining the [[Scottish Labour Party]].{{r|hobit}} During his later years, he published few poems due to his "concern with quality and authenticity over quantity";{{r|two|Plockton}} his family responsibilities and career left him little spare time to write.{{r|contexts|p=5}} MacLean said that he had burned his poetry instead of publishing it because of his "long years of grinding school-teaching and [his] addiction to an impossible lyric ideal".{{r|university|library}} 
<!-- [[File:Sleat Sabhal Mor.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Part of the Sabhal Mòr campus with [[Knoydart]] visible across the [[Sound of Sleat]]]] -->

After his retirement in 1972, MacLean moved to his great-grandmother's house at Peinnachorrain in Braes on Skye, with views over the [[Sound of Raasay]], where he entertained frequently.{{r|harvest|hobit}} Following the English publication of his poetry, he began to be in demand internationally for poetry readings, for which he traveled to such places as [[Rotterdam]], [[Baddeck]] [[Cape Breton Island|Cape Breton]], and [[Berlin]].{{r|contexts|p=5|irish|harvest}} MacLean was [[Artist-in-residence|writer in residence]] at the University of Edinburgh from 1973 to 1975,<ref name=library/><ref name="alumnus"/> where he reportedly kept an open door and warm welcome for aspiring Gaelic poets.{{r|MC|p=1}} Later, he was the second ''[[filidh]]'' at the recently founded [[Sabhal Mòr Ostaig]], a Gaelic-medium university on Skye, from 1975 to 1976.<ref name=library/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/arts-and-culture/sir-iain-noble-memorial-lecture-recalls-life-poet-sorley-maclean-2119579 |title=Sir Iain Noble Memorial Lecture recalls life of poet Sorley MacLean |work=[[Stornoway Gazette]] |date=26 November 2016 |access-date=22 January 2023}}</ref> He was involved in founding the institution and also served on its board.<ref name=lecture/> In 1993, his daughter Catrìona died at the age of 41; MacLean and his wife helped to raise her three children. The poet died of natural causes on 24 November 1996, aged 85, at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.<ref name=obit/>