Risk management is gaining acknowledgement in organisational management due to the benefits it brings with it, such as ability of managers to forecast possible threats and plan the most appropriate prevention measures. Psychosocial risk group is one of the largest risk group types and is related to the aspects of staff overburning, lack of employee motivation, health problems due to stress, etc. Study carried in Latvia about risk management showed that psychosocial risks are significant for educational institutions. Empirical research carried out in Latvia has shown that the top risks perceived by the education sector professionals in Latvia are overloading of employees and lack of employee motivation. Hypothesis of this study is that psychosocial risks, such as overloading and lack of motivation, are not dealt well with due to low awareness of effective psychosocial risk management techniques. There was no profound research performed on this topic in Latvia in the last ten years. The aim of this study is to explore different methods researched by other authors how the risk can be managed, analyse causes of these risks and provide the recommendation on how to deal with the psychosocial risks in the educational sector.

Vulnerabilities and risks in the educational sector affect policy makers, education providers and education receivers. Weak risk management increases the likelihood of misaligned priorities, poor service delivery and financial losses. Risk management is crucial part of effective management of education, provision of qualitative educational services and sufficient fair distribution of financing for higher education. However, in Latvia this topic is only starting to gain attention of regulators and managers in the educational sector. The task of this research is to analyse existing worldwide research on risks and risk management practices within the educational sector. Upon the results of the research basic recommendations for risk management within the educational sector in Latvia will be drawn. The purpose is to provide a short introduction to risk management in the context of management of education. This is a desktop study research involving analysis of published articles in academic databases, books, governmental publications, regulatory texts and public online resources.

From the risk management perspective educational sector is exposed to a number of different risks which may result in serious incidents: student safety, research labs (e.g. chemical), food provision, new educational program introduction, change of methodology in teaching, budget allocation, selecting of cooperation partners, recruitment of teachers, accreditation process, power failure in educational institution, personal data leaks, and other. The cost of claims to education institution, not only financial, but also from a public image standpoint-can be significant. Educational institutions need to protect students, teachers, faculty, administration, support workers, contracted workers, community and their institution's reputation and budget. If educational institution's reputation is affected, a serious threat to future admissions, endowments, and financial strength is posed. Identifying and forecasting these risks via the incident reporting process is a common approach used by the risk managers in the corporate sector. Although the educational sector may face lower losses rather than the industrial sectors, effective incident management would help to insure avoiding losses and be prepared for any upcoming challenges. In the education institutions of Latvia this practice is not widespread: according to empirical research results only 1/3 of all respondents confirmed that their educational institution use incident reporting as a tool for effective risk management. The aim of this study is to analyse the practice of incident reporting in other sectors, where it is successfully used, and establish applicability of these methods to the sector of education. Recommendations on how to effectively apply incident reporting to the daily routine in education management are provided as well.