Helena Kliche

Junior Professor Dr. Helena Kliche is a social-pedagogical researcher who, until 31 August 2025, held the junior professorship for Social Pedagogy in the Department of Social Pedagogy III, Faculty I (Educational Sciences) at the University of Trier, Germany. On 1 September 2025 she moved to the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Her work centres on educational inequality, residential care and homelessness, using ethnographic and mixed-methods designs.

Education

• Dr. phil., University of Siegen, Faculty II, July 2020 – Dissertation: "The social practice of school-related learning and practice in residential groups of child and youth welfare services"
• 1st State Examination for Teaching at Grammar Schools and Comprehensive Schools, University of Siegen, 2018 (Supplementary subject Social Sciences)
• 1st State Examination for Teaching at Grammar Schools and Comprehensive Schools, University of Siegen, 2014 (Educational Science, Pedagogy, German)

Research Focus

Helena Kliche’s research explores how formal education interacts with residential care, youth welfare services and homelessness. Employing ethnographic and biographical methods, she investigates homework practices, educational transitions, and the reproduction of social inequality within out-of-home care settings. Her work also examines eating habits of adolescents in residential care and cross-sector collaboration between schools and social services.

Projects & Funding

• Formal Education and Homelessness – a biographical preliminary study, funded by the University of Trier Research Fund (2022-2023)
• PIONEERED – Pioneering policies tackling educational inequalities in Europe, EU Horizon 2020 (2021-2024, site associate scientist)
• Eating habits of adolescents in residential child care, DFG-funded mixed-methods study (2018-2022)
• Youth welfare institutions with schools & SchoolEducation in Educational Support, funded by MKW NRW and own funds (2015-2020)

Scientific Awards & Recognition

No specific awards are listed in the provided material; however, her 2024 positive interim evaluation of the junior professorship reflects institutional recognition.

Teaching & Supervision

At the University of Trier she taught seminars on social-pedagogical transitions, inequality reproduction, sexual violence in educational organisations, and support planning in child and youth services. She maintains consultation hours for thesis supervision and is deputy chair of the Educational Science Examination Board.

Labs & Teams

Helena Kliche collaborates within the Social Pedagogy III research unit and co-leads working groups such as "Homelessness as a crisis" and "The Temporality of Social Exclusions". She is also deputy Equal Opportunities Officer for Faculty I and an active member of DGfE, IGFH/FICE and DGfPI.