Jenni Tikkanen
Postdoctoral Fellow
The Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning and Education CELE jenni.tikkanen@utu.fi +358 29 450 2488 +358 50 338 2852 Assistentinkatu 5 Turku : 379 |
youth research; education policy; comparative education; sociology of education; statistical analysis; structural equation modelling; life course research
I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (TIAS) research collegium and a Visiting Research Fellow in the Inequalities, Interventions, and New Welfare State (INVEST) research flagship of the Academy of Finland. My main research interests are related to sociology of education, youth studies, life course research, and international comparative education. In my most recent research, including my doctoral dissertation, I have focused on youth trajectories, educational and societal segregation, and the relations of social change and social reproduction.
In the TIAS collegium, my postdoctoral research project, which is titled ‘Riding High or Hanging on for Dear Life? Reflexivity, Opportunity Structures, and the Formation of Young People’s Life Courses and Biographies in Times of Risk and Uncertainty’, examines how the individualisation of social inequalities, privatisation of risks, and gendered nature of individualisation materialise in ‘objective’ life courses and ‘subjective’ biographies of young people in Finland, Europe, and Australia. I approach the topic by examining the interplay of individual reflexivity and the surrounding opportunity structures.
In addition, I participate actively in two further international research projects: International Study of City Youth (ISCY; iscy.org) and Education Systems, Learning and Social Change (EduSyS; sites.utu.fi/edusys). ISCY is a comparative, longitudinal study focusing on understanding how education systems prepare young people to life beyond school and how young people’s school experiences and achievements influence their careers and life more broadly. EduSys is a longitudinal mixed methods study analysing young people's educational and occupational pathways, particularly from the viewpoint of their skills development and choices made in different transition points in their social contexts.
- A Synthesis Review of Education Research on Learning Outcomes (2026) Constructing Learning Outcomes : Problematizing (Under)Achievement in Europe Zelinka, Jozef; Amorim, José Pedro; Parreira do Amaral, Marcelo; Jablonczay, Nikoletta; Kovacheva, Siyka; Kyttälä, Minna; Papadimitriou, Achilleas; Rambla, Xavier; Siri, Anna; Tikkanen, Jenni
- Constructing Learning Outcomes in Europe: Promises and Challenges (2026) Constructing Learning Outcomes : Problematizing (Under)Achievement in Europe Tikkanen, Jenni; Parreira do Amaral, Marcelo; Järvinen, Tero; Alves, Natália
- Constructing Learning Outcomes : Problematizing (Under)Achievement in Europe (2026) Tikkanen, Jenni; Parreira do Amaral, Marcelo; Järvinen, Tero; Alves, Natália
- Epilogue (2026) Constructing Learning Outcomes : Problematizing (Under)Achievement in Europe Tikkanen, Jenni; Parreira do Amaral, Marcelo; Järvinen, Tero; Alves, Natália
- Autonomy and Solidarity in School Culture: A Relationality Perspective on Teacher Autonomy (2025)
- European Journal of Education
- Differences in Skills Among Secondary School Students in Turku (2024) Inequality in Key Skills of City Youth : An International Comparison af Ursin Piia, Tikkanen Jenni, Järvinen Tero
- Kokemusasiantuntijoiden merkitys ammattikorkeakouluopetuksessa - Sosiaali- ja terveysalan lehtoreiden näkemyksiä (2024)
- Sosiaalipedagoginen Aikakauskirja
- Adolescent social capital: An intergenerational resource? (2023)
- Journal of Adolescence
- Student Disengagement in Finnish Comprehensive Schooling (2023) Finland’s Famous Education System : Unvarnished Insights into Finnish Schooling af Ursin Piia, Tikkanen Jenni, Järvinen Tero
- The Significance of Socioeconomic Background for the Educational Dispositions and Aspirations of Finnish School Leavers (2023) Finland’s Famous Education System : Unvarnished Insights into Finnish Schooling Järvinen Tero, Tikkanen Jenni, af Ursin Piia
- Exploring Young Adults’ Lifelong Learning Policy Participation Styles: Comparative Perspectives from Finland, Scotland, and Spain (2022) Landscapes of Lifelong Learning Policies across Europe : Comparative Case Studies Tikkanen Jenni, Jacovkis Judith, Vanderhoven Ellen
- Governing the Life Course through Lifelong Learning: A Multilevel and Multidimensional View (2022)
- Societies
- Institutional, Economic-Material, and Discursive Opportunity Structures Influencing Support and Guidance Policies for Young People in Austria, Finland, and Scotland (2022) Landscapes of Lifelong Learning Policies across Europe : Comparative Case Studies Capsada-Munsech Queralt, Chan Ralph, Tikkanen Jenni, Valiente Oscar
- Landscapes of Lifelong Learning Policies Across Europe: Conceptual Lenses (2022) Landscapes of Lifelong Learning Policies across Europe : Comparative Case Studies Benasso Sebastiano, Cefalo Ruggero, Tikkanen Jenni
- Adolescent Social Capital – An Intergenerational Resource? (2021) Tuominen Minna, Tikkanen Jenni
- Beyond the Unproductive Dualism – Developing Understandings of Structure and Agency in Youth Studies and Life Course Research (2021) Tikkanen Jenni, Jacovkis Judith
- Increasingly Demanding, Risky, and Destandardised - Young People Coping with Life Course Transitions in the Midst of Societal Changes (2021) Tikkanen Jenni, Barroso-Hurtado Domingo, Guerrero-Puerta Laura
- Governing the normalisation of young adults through lifelong learning policies (2020) Lifelong Learning Policies for Young Adults in Europe : Navigating between Knowledge and Economy Risto Rinne, Heikki Silvennoinen, Tero Järvinen, Jenni Tikkanen
- Constructing Life Courses in Times of Uncertainty: Individualisation and Social Structures in the Context of Finnish Education (2019) Tikkanen Jenni
- Parental school satisfaction in the context of segregation of basic education in urban Finland (2019)
- Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy



