If left unaddressed, the shortage of foreign-language guides will become a crisis, members of the industry have warned.Industry-faces-crippling-shortage-of-foreign-language-guides-800x400

Jenny Briscoe, CEO of Gold Class Guides, said there simply were not enough guides speaking foreign languages. According to Alisha Kirk, Guide Manager at Tourvest, while many guides were able to speak more than one language this was more often than not local languages. “We have a major shortage of guides who are able to speak foreign languages and then a wide variety of foreign languages at that.”

Both Kirk and Briscoe pointed out that tour groups were being turned away because of a lack of foreign-language guides. According to Briscoe, a shortage in especially German, Italian, French and Mandarin existed. “We are just not able to service the German tour groups coming into the country as we don’t have enough German-speaking guides,” she said. “The same goes for Chinese. We have a shortage of guides who can speak Mandarin.” French and Italian speaking guides were also few and far between.

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4194_relocating-a-child-with-special-educational-needs_2251_t12Rebecca Marriage takes a look at recent changes to provision for special educational needs in England, and suggests points to consider when helping a family to make an international relocation with a child with special needs.

Parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) often have to battle to get the support they need for their child. When moving between areas in the UK, the process becomes even more challenging. The UK government recognises this, and is updating its system of support in England.

For families moving overseas, the situation becomes even more uncertain, with little to no regulation and consistency of integrated support in some international schools.

According to recent statistics, more than a fifth of children in England have some form of special educational need. The government considers children to have SEN if they have a learning difficulty that calls for special educational provision to be made for them. All state schools in England are required by law to ensure that help is provided for children with SEN, and every local authority has a responsibility to support the children living in its area.

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Mapping the Islamist threat across Africa

Violent Islamist campaigns have taken an acute turn since 2013 with Libya, Tunisia, Mali, Somalia, Kenya and Nigeria bearing the brunt of most jihadist attacks (see map below).

Tunisia, sick man of jihadism
“Look! We can follow the attacks in real time. It’s like being on the front lines!” says a pro-IS shopkeeper, flicking though his twitter feed, in the documentary Salafistes. Unlike Algeria and Morocco, Tunisia has not controlled travel to conflict zones. When islamist party Ennahda was in power after 2011 it encouraged young people to fight in foreign wars. How did this progressive country of just 11 million people send so many to fight for IS? Some point to the fierce repression of islamists, others to the high education levels that help plug well-connected youth into the global jihadi movement. There is also high unemployment, and despair at seeing how founding father Habib Bourguiba’s vision was betrayed by corrupt elites. The current government appears unable to get a grip on the interior ministry, with incoherent responses to the attacks on Sousse beach and the Bardo museum.

Read the original article on Theafricareport.com 

Atlas-mountains-Morocco_20090218145734-621x350While you might think of Morocco as solely a place to explore exotic cities, eat delicious food, and bask in the sun, it’s actually got plenty of hiking opportunities, too. The country’s varied terrain includes majestic snow-capped mountains, barren deserts, and dramatic rocky coastlines, all of which can be explored on foot. From the Atlas Mountains, to the Sahara, to forested valleys, here are 10 outstanding places to go hiking in Morocco that will stimulate your senses.

Click here to read the article on AFKTravel.com.