School Development as Communication Processes

This article offers a contribution to a better ontological clarity in the field of school development, including development of an evaluation culture. Research reveals that it is difficult for schools to live up to the ideas and ideals for school development such as the development of an evaluation and assessment culture, establishing learning organisations and furthering professional learning communities. Studies in the field now emphasise the need to understand the complexity of school systems, recognising system-environment interaction and that one ‘shoe’ does not fit all sizes. This knowledge calls attention to a need for reflection on the ontology of school development processes, and to frameworks which are capable of dealing with the complexity. As such, this article offers new conceptual explorations into school development. Drawing on critical realist metatheory and on meta-perspectives from different disciplines, the article suggests that communication and interaction constitute the processes of evaluation and learning in schools. It also suggests that attention has to be paid to the mechanisms and structures supporting the emergence of an evaluation and learning culture.