The study analyses teachers' perceptions of school relations and climate in a 'non-traditional' international school between the Greek national education departments and the IB department. Comparing perceptions of inwards and outwards oriented departments is relatively neglected in literature which treats schools and their culture(s) as monolithic entities. Cluster sampling was employed, consisting of 300 teachers and 316 parents. The analysis of data was performed using Pearson product moment correlation and one-way ANOVA. Teacher perceptions among the international and the domestically oriented departments diverge in statistically significant ways in fundamental pedagogical dimensions including teacher cooperation and mentoring, issues of fairness and disciplinary control and cooperation and relations with parents. A pluralistic interpretation of school climate can be a more relevant predictor of teacher perceptions than the orthodox monolithic constructs. The results suggest international schools' research can benefit from resorting to both idiographic and nomothetic research paradigms.