Paul A. Bartolo

Paul A. Bartolo is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the department of Psychology, Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta, where he coordinates the programme for the preparation of psychologists. He holds an MEd in Educational Psychology from the University of Toronto, an MSc professional qualification from the University of Manchester, and a PhD from the University of London. He promoted the development of psychology practice, training and the profession in Malta: he set set up the School Psychological Services in 1990, specific services for children within the autism spectrum in 1994, the first Master preparation programme for educational pscyhologists at the University of Malta, and the first Maltese psychology association in 1992, serving as its second president.

More recently, between 2011-17,  he contributed to the development of the profession internationally as President Elect, President and Past President of the International School Psychology Association. Prof Bartolo has also had a long standing interest in the enhancement of social justice and inclusion in education and society both nationally and internationally: he was coordinator of the National Curriculum Focus Group for Inclusive Education (2001-03), of the Research Group on Inclusion and Special Educational Needs of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe (2003-10), and of a European Erasmus project among seven countries on Responding to Student Diversity (2004-07). He was a consultant on a number of cross-European projects on the development of inclusive education of the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (2011-18).

He is section editor for the current Springer Encyclopedia on Teacher Education on Inclusive education and social justice: equal respect and opportunities for all. He was awarded the Tom Oakland Outstanding Interntional Scholar Award by the International School Psychology Association in 2018. His recent publications include: (2010) Why school psychology for diversity; (2015) Winning people’s hearts: How inclusion and exclusion informed the Malta general election campaign of 2013; (2015) The Role of Psychologists in Inclusive Settings; and (2019) An adapted ecosystem model for inclusive early childhood education: a qualitative cross European study.