The paper examines the theoretical construct of teachers' beliefs in regard to a general structure as well as a possible conceptualisation of the topic of linguistic and cultural heterogeneity in school and teaching. For this purpose, seven areas of teachers' general professional beliefs were derived from the literature: (a) epistemological beliefs, (b) beliefs about teaching, (c) beliefs about the teachers role (self ), (d) beliefs about the students, (e) beliefs about school in general, (f ) beliefs about teacher training and (g) beliefs from a social perspective. Subsequently, a classification of studies on teachers' beliefs towards linguistic and cultural heterogeneity into these areas was carried out. The results indicate that the theoretically derived model consisting of seven dimensions is suitable for mapping teachers' general professional beliefs as well as their beliefs towards linguistic and cultural heterogeneity. Possible implications for praxis are discussed critically in the conclusion.