In the crowd of delegates milling about at INTO Congress, Seyi Agbede stands out.
Primary school teachers are a homogenous bunch – they are overwhelmingly female and white. Seyi is black and male.
In fact he is the first black delegate that I have ever noticed at an INTO conference or indeed any teacher conference, and he is only the third black teacher that I have ever met (the other two, by the way, have since left teaching here).
The issue of teacher diversity is one that is close to Seyi's heart. I met him as I wandered around outside the conference hall, asking teachers to tell me what their burning issues in education were.
When I ask Seyi, he doesn’t hesitate. The thing he wants to talk about is diversity he says, and the massive imbalance between the ethnic make up of pupils in the classroom and the teacher at the top.
"I teach in a school where we have about 33 different languages spoken by pupils. Almost 90% of our pupil population is diverse, however the teaching population is not."
"Some of those children have never seen a teacher of colour and they are surprised when they do. I feel this is one of the key things we should be addressing at this time".
Seyi arrived here in 2021 from Nigeria. A qualified teacher, he joined a Marino Institute of Education programme which aims to increase the participation of migrant teachers in Irish schools.
Teachers are important role models for children, and it is important that they see role models that mirror the wider society they are growing up in. Increasing the number of migrant teachers is also one way of addressing the current teacher shortage, and harnessing talent.
Seyi says migrant teachers face multiple barriers when they try to find work as teachers here. They often face a mountain of red tape in getting their qualifications recognised. But one of the biggest barriers is the requirement for primary teachers to have proficiency in the Irish language.
Seyi soon found work as a substitute teacher in St Mary's National School on Dublin’s Dorset St and he has been working there ever since. But he cannot hope to secure permanent work until he has mastered Irish.
"It has to go beyond just saying they want diversity. They need to ask 'what effort are we putting in place to change things?"
When I ask him about this he smiles, puts his hand to his heart and says: "Is mise Seyi".
"My personal target is to be fluent in Irish in two years," he adds.
He admits it is tough going because Irish is nothing like English or Yoruba, his mother tongue, but he is working hard.
A third barrier is the one that everyone here is complaining about - the cost of living.
"Especially in places like Dublin this is quite a discouragement".
In terms of solutions, above all else Seyi wants to see leadership.
"It has to start from the top", he says. "People at the top need to be very conscious about it. It has to go beyond just saying they want diversity. They need to ask 'what effort are we putting in place to change things?’"
Seyi is the first delegate of colour that I have noticed at an INTO conference, but is he actually the first?
He doesn’t know.
I ask the INTO, and they don’t know either.
The INTO does not collect data on member ethnicity. The Department of Education does not collect data on teacher ethnicity. We know there are very few teachers of colour in the system but surely one first step towards working to overcome a deficit is to begin measuring it?
Of course, Seyi is also in a minority in another way. Amid a sea of female teachers he is male.
This is something we do have data on. Just 14% of primary school teachers are male. For the sake of positive role modelling for children in class, that’s one other thing that needs to change.
