This article is devoted to the important theoretical issues of cross-cultural competence. Particular attention is paid to the UK education system as one of the oldest structures in the world. Based on an analysis of a teacher’s cross-cultural experience at Durham University and the University of Manchester, as well as different approaches of Russian and international educationists, it is shown that cross-cultural competence is an integral part of the professional educational activity. Further, the author emphasises the need to consider cross-cultural competences with the help of models and attempts to create a model of the development of a teacher’s cross-cultural competence