2018 Tom Oakland ISPA Outstanding International Scholar Award

It gives us great pleasure to propose Paul Bartolo for the Tom Oakland ISPA Outstanding International Scholar Award for 2018.  He has been a scintillating presence at ISPA Conferences for several years and made a wonderful contribution to the development of the Association.  Dr. Bartolo is Associate Professor of Psychology in the Faculty for Social Wellbeing at the University of Malta.

Dr. Bartolo has contributed to the development of the profession of school psychology through psychological practice, the promotion of psychology organisations, the training of psychologists and research and publications. He set up the Government School Psychological Services in Malta in 1989, and was also the psychologist for a national program for the assessment and education of children with autism in Malta for many years. He was a founder member of the Malta Union of Professional Psychologists and was its president for four years. During this time, he played a key role in negotiations which led to the introduction of legislation for the licensing of psychologists in Malta. He represented Malta at EFPA meetings where he was an active member of the standing committee on Psychology in Education. He attended his first ISPA conference in 2005, organised the ISPA conference in Malta in 2009, and was ISPA President Elect, President and Past President from 2011 to 2017. With Tom Oakland and Bonnie Nastasi he was responsible for the updating of the ISPA Mission Statement in 2015. He also strongly promoted the launch of the ISPA new International Journal of School and Educational Psychology from 2013.

In the area of professional psychology, Dr. Bartolo developed the training program for school psychologists at the University of Malta and is currently coordinator of the training of psychologists in the different areas of specialisation in Malta. He has been part of the ISPA Accreditation process of school psychology programs across the world. His publications on the psychology profession include: ‘How disciplinary and institutional orientation influences professionals’ decision making about early childhood disability’ (2000); ‘Naturalistic decision-making task processes in multiprofessional assessment of disability’ (2001); ‘Communicating a diagnosis of developmental disability to parents: Multiprofessional negotiation frameworks’ (2002). ‘School psychology in Malta’ in The Handbook of International School Psychology edited by Jimerson, Oakland and Farrell (2006); ‘Why school psychology for diversity?’ (2010); and ‘The role of psychologists in inclusive settings’ in International Perspectives on Inclusive Education (2015) by Emerald.

Dr. Bartolo’s widest work, research and publications have been on inclusive education both in Malta and internationally. He chaired and edited the publication of the keynotes of three international conferences, one on Autism: The challenge of inclusion (2000), another on Homosexuality: Challenging the stigma (2003); and those of the ISPA Conference in Malta on School Psychology for Diversity in 2009. He was elected coordinator of the Malta National Curriculum Focus Group for Inclusive Education (2001-03) culminating in the publication on Creating Inclusive Schools: Guidelines for the Implementation of the National Curriculum Policy for Inclusive Education. He extended his promotion of inclusion in Malta recently through a monograph on Winning people’s hearts: How inclusion and exclusion informed the Malta general election campaign of 2013.

At the international level Dr. Bartolo chaired the research group on Inclusion and Special Educational Needs of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe (2003-10), as well as a seven-country 3-year European Project (2004-07) which produced, in seven languages, the Teacher’s handbook: Responding to Student Diversity. Since 2006 he has participated in several EU projects on inclusion and socio-emotional education: as a member of the expert panel of the FP6 project INCLUDE-ED (2006-11); as a consultant and advisor to three projects of the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education: one on the ‘Organisation of Provision for Inclusive Education’ (2011-14); one on ‘Inclusive Early Childhood Education’ (2014-2017) which has published four documents on the topic (see https://www.european-agency.org); and, presently,   in the project on ‘The Changing Role of Specialist Provision in supporting inclusive education’ (2018-19). He has also been a core team member of two EU projects: one for the production of a Resilience Curriculum (RESCUR) for early years and primary education (2012-15), and another on the program development for a Master in Resilience Education (2016-18). Dr. Bartolo has also been co-author of two International studies requested by the European Commission Directorate for Education: one on How Initial Teacher Education prepares student teachers to deal with Diversity in the Classroom (2017); and one on Strengthening Social and Emotional Education as a core curricular area across the EU: A review of the international evidence (2018). Earlier this year he was appointed as Section Editor in the forthcoming new Springer Encyclopaedia on Teacher Education.  The section comprises ten chapters on ‘Inclusive Education and Social Justice: Equal Respect and Opportunities for All’. To paraphrase Prospero in The Tempest, Paul’s knowledge of psychology and education ‘cannot be measured or confined’.

With his indomitable spirit and matchless energy, Dr. Bartolo has been a vibrant life force in ISPA for the past thirteen years.  We are delighted to present him with the 2018 Tom Oakland ISPA Outstanding International Scholar Award.