Abstract:

Our paper describes the progress of our Erasmus+ KA2 project entitled CAST4Innovation (Cultural Awareness Supporting Training for Innovation). The two year project runs from September 2018 to August 2020, and the transnational partnership consists of CRAICNI (Northern Ireland, UK), the Lead Partner; MAPS (Scotland); OikoPoli (Greece); Training 2000 (Italy) and Nazilli (Turkey).

The aim is to develop creatively a transnational accredited training programme both online and person to person, in order to break down barriers to integration and to develop civic skills. Our objectives are: to tackle racism and xenophobia; to increase mutual understanding by raising cultural awareness; to develop the capacity of cultural diversity trainers; to use music, art, poetry, sport and cuisine as creative illustrations of pathways to equality and social cohesion; to create a toolkit for the training of cultural trainers/facilitators in the future; to set up an accredited online training course for trainers throughout Europe.

Five intellectual outputs have been defined with tasks allocated across the transnational partners.
1. Competency mapping for trainers. Work has been completed on this output, using questionnaire surveys, good practice case studies and a literature search.
2. Cultural awareness Training Content. A transnational workshop has taken place in Belfast, at which seven draft modules have been piloted and evaluated.

These are:
* What is Culture? What is Cultural Awareness? What skills are needed in Cultural Awareness work?
* Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. What factors affect communities that may lead to inequality and exclusion? What skills are needed to promote diversity?
*Assessment of Skills and Needs. Identification of assets, needs, informal networks, interests, motivations, power dynamics and opportunities within diverse communities. Development of effective communication skills in person and through different accessible media.
* Skills Development for Trainers. Understanding of the processes involved in planning, designing, delivering, assessing and evaluating training programmes.
* Cultural Intelligence. Trainers are invited to explore their own cultural intelligence and connections with others.
* Managing Diversity. How to facilitate people to understand, respect and recognise the values and contributions of others. How to help communities to resolve effectively conflicts of interests or opinions.
* Specialist Module. They demonstrate how they currently deliver their specialist area, and are encouraged to look at ways of improving their planning and delivery.

3. Handbook and Training Course Plan for Trainers and Facilitators. This is an essential component of our quality assurance both during the project and in future use by accredited trainers.
4. OER Platform for E-learning. This is currently being constructed and will be populated over the next few weeks by the revised module content. There will also be interactive features such a chat room for trainers. By the time of the conference, it will be possible to give an online demonstration of the platform.
5. Assessment and Certification. An Associate Awarding Body is currently involved in preparing the way for this.

In the conclusion of the paper, there will also be a critical reflection on the challenges involved in project management and implementation involving a transnational partnership.

Keywords:

Cultural Awareness Training.