The purpose of the paper is to investigate the management control system (MCS) support of school initiatives to develop the school climate and to re‐engage disruptive students.
The paper adopts an approach of critical action research interviews with management and document reviews informed by Habermasian concepts to investigate practical concerns of schools with a complex problem and which add to the body of knowledge.
Using Habermas's discourse ethics distinction between the pragmatic, ethical and moral it was observed that both schools had gone beyond pragmatically informed strategic initiatives to include more rational problem solving responses: one school is more ethical the other more moral. Both schools' MCS are better explained by Otley's categorisation based on three concerns of MCS, the transactional, the strategic and stakeholder aspirations. Both schools' MCS displayed a stakeholder concern.
As only two schools where investigated the generalised conclusions need to be considered cautiously.
Schools should be supported to take initiatives to develop a supportive school climate and improve the rationality and justice of their practices. In schools, MCS cannot just be developed from strategic considerations.
The paper uses Habermasian social philosophy to illuminate MCS support in schools of their response to a complex problem.
