The article attempts to analyse the notions of school culture and school climate as well as their definitions, scopes and the applied research approaches. Although such activities have been undertaken and presented both in English and German literature, they have failed to constitute a separate field of analysis in Poland and as such, have been merely addressed on the margins of other problems. In this article, the author points out the positions of researchers who have identified the need to clarify the separate identity of the notions and for this purpose, to adopt appropriate research approaches, often leading, as the author attempts to illustrate, to diverse conclusions.