our team
We are a creative team of learning facilitators with practice-based expertise in social pedagogy and systemic change – based across the UK, Ireland and Europe and united by a shared belief in the power of relationships.
who we are
a team rooted in practice
ThemPra brings together learning facilitators, practitioners, researchers and writers who have spent their careers helping social pedagogy take root in everyday practice.
Between us we have worked in residential child care, family support, social work, youth work, education, mental health and services for people with learning disabilities – in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Denmark and beyond. That breadth means we can meet you where you are and draw on real practice experience rather than theory alone.
We work as a virtual team and often facilitate in pairs, so that every course and programme benefits from more than one perspective. Whoever you work with, you can expect the same commitment: to be equal partners in your learning, to practise the principles we teach and to help you find what works in your own context.
WHAT CONNECTS US
- A shared belief in the power of relationships
- A deep conviction that every person has innate potential
- Creating the conditions for people to recognise and unfold that potential – in themselves and in others
- Experiential, relational learning that connects head, heart and hands
meet the team
the people behind thempra
Find out more about each of our facilitators below, including the courses they currently run.
Gabriel Eichsteller
CO-FOUNDER AND LEARNING FACILITATOR
Gabriel co-founded ThemPra with Sylvia Holthoff in 2008, bringing international experience in social pedagogy, play and youth work and children’s participation. He has co-created many of ThemPra’s courses and qualifications, led EU-funded Leonardo Mobility projects and developed the Erasmus+ Massive Open Online Course on Social Pedagogy across Europe. He has also acted as HLS learning partner for the Irish Government funded pilot project F:ACES (Family and Child Enhanced Services) aimed at creating a relational learning approach to understand and address child poverty.
Gabriel has coordinated the Social Pedagogy Development Network since 2009, leads the Global Alliance for Social Pedagogy and Social Education and co-edits the International Journal of Social Pedagogy, published by UCL Press. He is also a contributor to Human Learning Systems: Public Service for the Real World. Much of his work today focuses on how leaders and organisations can create cultures where relationships and learning thrive.
Gabriel lives in Co Wicklow, Ireland and enjoys being outdoors at the beach or in the hills, particularly in the company of his wife and two children, or reading a good Irish crime novel on the occasional rainy day.
FACILITATES
Alexandra Priver
LEARNING FACILITATOR
Alexandra is an internationally experienced social pedagogue who qualified in Germany in 2001 and has since practised in several European countries. Her expertise lies particularly in child protection, child placement teams, leaving and after care, and family group conferencing services. She is also trained in Non-Violent Communication.
Since joining ThemPra in 2009, Alexandra has led and co-facilitated many of our courses with local authorities and voluntary organisations across the UK. She is a skilled experiential learning facilitator who creates space for participants to explore social pedagogy through their own experience – and to leave with a clearer sense of how to bring it into their everyday practice.
FACILITATES
Charlotte Firing
LEARNING FACILITATOR
Charlotte is a Danish social pedagogue with more than 25 years of experience, including a decade as a homes manager. Her practice has focused on children and adults with learning disabilities and on child and youth psychiatry. She is a trained coach and holds a master’s degree in educational sociology from the University of Aarhus.
Whilst also working as a social pedagogue in Denmark, Charlotte has worked with local authorities in the UK for over fifteen years co-facilitating the Head, Heart, Hands programme and work with Camphill Communities. She brings warmth, rigour and a commitment to honest reflection to every group she works with.
FACILITATES
Dan Nester
LEARNING FACILITATOR
Dan has extensive experience of working with children and young people aged 3 to 21 and of participatory practice. He works with Barnardo’s Voice and Influencing Team, holds a BA in Social Pedagogy, Advocacy and Participation and is undertaking a Professional Doctorate exploring creativity-based participatory practice.
As a facilitator, Dan creates inclusive, psychologically safe and trauma-informed learning spaces. He has a particular interest in how co-production can challenge systemic inequalities and create lasting change – and in making sure the voices of people with lived experience genuinely shape the services around them.
FACILITATES
Ali Gardner
EXTERNAL CONSULTANT AND LEARNING FACILITATOR
Ali works with social care organisations to strengthen legal and ethical literacy, relationship-based and strength-based practice and communication skills. Before this, she spent many years in social work education at universities across North West England.
Ali is the author of Personalisation in Social Work and co-author, with Lowis Charfe, of Social Pedagogy and Social Work – the first English-language text to bring the two fields together. She is especially interested in helping practitioners and leaders have the honest, empathic conversations that good relationships depend on.
FACILITATES
Robyn Kemp
EXTERNAL CONSULTANT AND LEARNING FACILITATOR
Robyn has worked as a consultant and learning facilitator in children’s social care since 1998. A qualified social worker (1995) with an MA in Social Pedagogy (2011), she has set up and managed residential child care and a range of other services, and has wide experience of services across the UK and Ireland. In 2009 she set up her own independent social pedagogy consultancy.
Robyn is a founding member and former chair of the Social Pedagogy Professional Association, co-edits the International Journal of Social Pedagogy and sits on the board of AIEJI, the International Association of Social Educators. She has published widely on social pedagogy.
Sylvia Holthoff
CO-FOUNDER AND LEARNING FACILITATOR
Sylvia is a German-qualified pedagogue with around three decades of experience, specialising in work with people with learning disabilities and special needs. Her background spans outdoor and experiential learning, residential care pilot programmes and a Polish-German environmental education project. She is a qualified outdoor and experiential learning facilitator and systemic counsellor.
Sylvia co-developed and facilitated the first social pedagogy course in the UK as part of a National Centre for Excellence pilot, and went on to co-found ThemPra with Gabriel in 2008. Her love of learning by doing continues to shape the experiential approach at the heart of our work.
Andy Carter
LEARNING FACILITATOR
Andy is a qualified teacher and social worker with extensive experience across a wide range of care and education settings for children and young people. He began his career in a special education unit in Cumbria, where he first adopted a social pedagogical approach.
Andy has worked with ThemPra since 2010, facilitating learning with local authorities, independent children’s homes and Camphill Communities. His grounding in both classroom and care settings helps participants see how social pedagogy connects across the different parts of a person’s life.
learn with us
Whether you want to join one of our open online courses or explore how we could support your team or organisation, we’d love to hear from you.