[1] She was born in Rakkestad on 31 May 1875 as a daughter of teacher and smallholder Hans Andersen Kirkeng (1838–1898) and Johanne Marie Sæves (1843–1886).

She started in Lier, continued in Moss from 1897 to 1900 when she was hired at Lakkegata School at Tøyen, Oslo.

After a stay in Halle under the auspices of Ernst Meumann from 1909 to 1910, she began on a doctorate thesis, finishing it in 1912.

It was named Abstrakte begreper i barnets tanke og tale ("Abstract Terms in Thought and Speech of Children"), and she disputed for the dr.philos.

In the 1920s she again studied more pure psychology, issuing Barnets følelsesliv i sammenligning med den voksnes in 1921.

She was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav (1953), and in 1994 when the Faculty of Educational Sciences' new building at the University of Oslo campus Blindern was inaugurated, it was named the Helga Eng House.