An Unprotected Species? On Teachers as Risky Subjects

This paper provides an account of the ways in which risk-consciousness is changing the nature of teachers’ work and identity. We argue that all teachers are now 'at risk' in that they may be unable to enact or maintain the radically expanded duty of care that is the effect of risk minimisation as an organisational logic of schooling. The paper begins by elaborating the notion of 'risk-as-danger'. It then moves to draw on two recent studies of teachers, risk and schooling, (an Australia study and a New Zealand study) to understand how risk and its minimisation are impacting on what teachers do and don’t do as professional workers with a duty of care to children