Prof Forster D. Ntow is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education and presently serves as the Director, Centre for Teaching Support, at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He is a Ghanaian academic with extensive teaching and research experience extending over a period of a decade in a number of countries, including Ghana, the USA and South Africa. Forster holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction (Mathematics Education) from the University of Minnesota, USA. During his PhD, he was involved in a number of major research projects such as the EngrTEAMS and Prepare2Nspire. The EngrTEAMS project focused on equipping middle school teachers with the expertise to develop STEM-integrated curricula through year-long professional development programmes and was funded by the National Research Council (NRC), USA. Also, he served as Project Manager and Data Analyst on another project known as Prepare2Nsipre, which was funded by the Great Lakes Guarantee Trust, Minnesota. This project provided out-of-school mathematics mentoring and tutoring support to middle and high school students drawn primarily from underserved and underrepresented communities. In South Africa, Dr Ntow worked on a 5-year, National Research Foundation (NRF) funded project known as the Wits Maths Connect Secondary (WMCS) project. WMCS was a professional development project targeted at secondary school mathematics teachers in terms of strengthening their knowledge in mathematics and simultaneously improving the quality of instruction. This project also involved introducing teachers to the use of technology in their teaching and learning activities.
In Ghana, Dr Ntow has consulted widely for both national and international agencies, such as UNICEF-Ghana on its Child-Friendly Schools project and the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA) in the development of its Schools Certification and Licensing Policy. Additionally, Forster has consulted for Plan Ghana on its projects, namely the EOF and MGCubed projects. Forster was part of a team of experts writing a numeracy training module for the National Teaching Council used in training prospective National Service Persons and untrained teachers teaching in the private schools in Ghana, which will lead to the award of either a provisional or temporary teaching license. Forster is presently the Director, Centre for Teaching Support and the former Head of the Department of Mathematics and ICT Education, both at UCC. Additionally, Forster serves as the Lead, Numeracy team, for the Ghana Statistical Service in the conduct of its Ghana Living Standards Survey, with Learning Poverty as one of its thematic areas.
Presently, Forster serves on the International Programs Committee (IPC) of the International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME-16) as one of the two representatives from Africa.
