This contribution deals with the most important area of school operation, the learning and teaching environment. Several weighty circumstances of its functioning are herewith examined, such as the operation of the school as a manifestation of its culture, the relation between learning and teaching, and paradigms of the school as specific organization or the school as community. Such contexts are considered as objective pre-conditions for the existence and operation of the area under observation and its development. Subsequently, data obtained through our empirical research at Czech schools are related to the subject. Some general conclusions are derived form both sets of findings, contributing thus to better recognition of the culture of this essential process.