The literature on teaching a thinking curriculum provides many theoretical models of teaching practice. These models range from the belief that thinking should be taught as a separate subject to those demonstrating the belief that thinking skills should be taught as an integral part of discipline content. Through questionnaires and interviews this research project sought to explore teachers' beliefs and understandings of a thinking curriculum and teaching practices deemed to be effective in teaching a thinking curriculum. It also sought to determine what factors teachers believed promoted effective teaching practices. The research literature provides an abundance of thinking curriculum models as frameworks for thinking-oriented approaches. The explosion of resources that provide teachers with tools to aid the implementation of a thinking curriculum in their classrooms is evidence of an increasing interest in a thinking curriculum. This interest in the area of teaching thinking is further apparent in the thinking-oriented professional development opportunities devoted to creating a culture of thinking in the classroom, student questioning and student reflection to name a few. It is little wonder that curriculum models abound. What is less evident in the literature is an examination of teachers' beliefs and understandings of a thinking curriculum. Likewise the literature reviewed by this researcher does not address the factors that promote effective classroom teaching practices in a thinking curriculum. If, as the literature suggests, a thinking curriculum enhances and promotes the generic skills required for the new millennium, it is important that educators, including school leaders, are aware of, and understand, the factors that promote these teaching practices. It is anticipated that if these factors can be identified, strategies can be implemented to facilitate effective teaching practices in a thinking curriculum. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. Participants included Year 7 and Year 8 teachers, the Principal and Assistant Principal and twenty-five Year 7 and Year 8 students. Data was analysed by examining themes or patterns that emerged from the data.