I would like to begin with a few observations on the history of the term "risk". The expression appears to have already been in use during the middle ages, where it emerges in the 16th century, as a German merchant's term in the neo-latin form "risicum". Why did such a supplimentary term ( to venture, peril, hazard) become necessary?So as, according to Luhmann (1991: p.22), to expand the sphere of rational behaviour into areas where the consequences of actions cannot be estimated with any certainty. This had become essential in order to fully exploit the opportunities of rational behaviour (e.g. in trade): "Forgoing risks would mean, particularly under present conditions, forgoing rationality. Yet we are left uneasy." (Luhmann 1991: p.22) Taking into consideration and working with risks is an attempt to deal with time rationally. Since the future is fundamentally unknown, decisions however, as a rule, affect the future, a calculation is needed. Luhmann characterizes the caculation of risk as "part of a historical machine". (Luhmann 1991: p.51) With reference to Jacques Derrida, I would like to critically examine this practice. Derrida observes that, with respect to a university as a rational institution, a rational approach must always be a choice between the principum rationis ( a reason) and the arche ( the search for the source). This decision "is always risky, it risks the worst. Simply put, to pretend that this risk can be eliminated by an institutional program, means to block oneself off from the furture." (Derrida 2004: p.97) We can conclude that, in educational theory and practice, the attempt to solve this problem by professionalizing teachers is destined to fail. Once again, with reference to Derrida, one can say that, in the case of the profession in question, we are dealing with a profession de foi, a transcendence of the techno-scientific discourse. "Professer means to obligate oneself, to declare oneself, by asserting and devoting oneself, by vowing to be one thing or another." (Derrida 2001: p.35) When we teach, we operate within a medium of significant unconcious intersubjectitvity. This makes education an impossible profession, as Freud already knew. Risk, in the sense described above, has always been inherent in education.

Derrida, Jacques (2001): Die unbedingte Universität. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp. Derrida, Jacques (2004): Mochlos oder Das Auge der Universität. Vom Recht auf Philosophie II. Wien: Passagen. Luhmann, Niklas (1991): Soziologie des Risikos. Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter