About Us

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nalan Kuru completed her primary, secondary, and high school education in Istanbul. She holds undergraduate degrees from Trakya and Marmara Universities' Faculty of Education, as well as master's and doctoral degrees from Marmara University's Institute of Educational Sciences. In 2017, she was awarded the title of associate professor in the field of early childhood education. She subsequently completed her postdoctoral studies in pedagogy at the Research Centre For Children Families and Communities, Canterbury Christ Church University in the United Kingdom. During this period, she received training in parent counseling, play therapy, leadership, and coaching from the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. She also completed the "Emotion Coaching Practitioner Trainer" program at Emotion Coaching UK Institute and earned the title of "International Emotion Coach Practitioner Trainer." She founded Emotion Coaching Turkey Institute and serves as the founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Duygu Dostu Eğitim Derneği (Emotion-Friendly Education Association) and Emotion Coaching Çalışmaları Derneği (Emotion Coaching Studies Association).
From 2016 to 2019, she served as the Vice President of the Turkish Association for the Development of Early Childhood Education (TOÖEGD) and Deputy Chairperson of the Turkish National Committee of the Organisation Mondiale Pour L'Education Prescolaire (OMEP). Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kuru has also worked as the Early Childhood Programs Coordinator at AÇEV (Mother-Child Education Foundation) and provided educational program consultancy, coordination of staff-teacher-parent training in various public and private schools, and consultancy for staff training in various institutions, particularly in Istanbul. She has conducted numerous training seminars in schools and organizations and facilitated various workshops for teachers, parents, and institution staff.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nalan Kuru has published numerous studies both domestically and internationally, and she has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in her field of expertise at various universities for many years. Currently, she continues her academic career as a faculty member in the Department of Elementary Education at Uludağ University's Faculty of Education. She is a mother of two children.

Nihal Kesen, an Early Childhood Teacher and Psychological Counselor, completed her primary, middle, and high school education in Ayvalık. She completed her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education at Bursa Uludağ University in 2019, ranking third in her department. In the same year, she also graduated from the Psychological Counseling and Guidance program. Currently, she is pursuing a master's degree in Early Childhood Education. She has conducted research at the national level, focusing on the social-emotional domain and child psychology. She is a practitioner of child assessments and an experiential play therapist. She is currently working as an early childhood teacher. Nihal Kesen is a Mentor of Emotion Coaching at the Emotion Coaching Institute in the UK and a Mentor Leader of Emotion Coaching at the Emotion Coaching Institute in Turkey.

Between 2011 and 2013, she served as an Early Childhood Teacher. In 2013, she started working as a Research Assistant in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Uludağ University, she is currently still in that position. She completed their master's degree in 2017 and are currently pursuing a Ph.D. program in Early Childhood Education. From 2018 to 2021, she served as a board member of the "Association for the Development of Early Childhood Education in Turkey (TOÖEGD)", which is the National Committee of the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP). She has numerous publications in national and international platforms and has been involved in various early childhood projects. Her study focuses on social-emotional learning in early childhood education and teacher training. She is a mother of a daughter.

She was born in Ankara in 1980. She started his education at Ümit Primary School and continued his high school education at Ankara Anatolian High School. She completed her undergraduate education at Gazi University Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Languages. After her undergraduate studies, she pursued a master's degree in Guidance and Psychological Counseling at Ufuk University Faculty of Education. She also completed her pre-graduate education in Child Development at Atatürk University. She has been serving as the Director of Can Kardeş Preschool and Daycare Centers, which have been providing early childhood education for 36 years and currently have 2 branches in Subayevleri Mahallesi, Keçiören district of Ankara. During her tenure, she has participated in numerous trainings and seminars in the field of early childhood education, child development, and child psychology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she had the opportunity to meet with Assoc. Prof. Nalan Kuru and received basic level and advanced level practitioner training organized by the Emotion Coaching Institute. Believing in the importance of raising children with emotion-friendly education, she started providing training to all staff members in August 2021, and through regular training sessions, workshops, meetings, and parent education seminars, the schools were accredited by the Emotion Coaching Institutes in the UK and Turkey in 2022, making Can Kardeş Preschools the first emotion-friendly schools in Turkey. She is currently working as the Director of Can Kardeş Preschools and has a 4-year-old child.