The school institution viewed as an organisation and its environment

Abstract Despite the fact that they are public institutions and that they seem to have the status quo of their functioning already established, schools are still exposed to various internal and external organisational changes. The article comes as a broad reflection on schools viewed as organisations and their environment, including activities that are undertaken in favour of development of such organisations. First, the article presents an explanation of the essence of an organisation. On the basis of some definitions provided by expert literature, schools are presented as organisations. Some particular attention is focused on the problem related to school environment in its micro- and macro-dimensions; it specifically refers to the establishment and maintenance of organisation–school relations. Theoretic considerations underlie the discussion of the essence of the presented survey and its results. The aim of the survey has been to identify entities that cooperate with contemporary schools and the environment in which such cooperation takes place and also to indicate the consequences that result from the interpretation of schools as organisations and their relations with the environment, viewed from the perspective of resources. The material for the research survey has been collected with the methods involving questionnaire forms and interviews. The results of the research come as a part of a more extensive research process.