Vocational school days for apprentices

You maintain the rhythm in the employee record: Settings → "Team" → click the apprentice's name → tab "Working Time Model" → the "Vocational school" card.

Why vocational school is its own absence type

A school day is not an absence from work. Gantway sets the daily target to zero for that day: the apprentice does not have to record any working time, and no deficit builds up in the time account either. Without a dedicated type, every school day would leave a full working day missing from the balance.

On top of that, a school day costs no vacation day and needs no approval — it is set immediately. It always covers a full day; half days and multi-day entries are blocked. For planning, the apprentice is blocked on that day.

Creating the rhythm

Click the "Set up school days" button and pick either "Fixed weekdays" or "Block release".

With fixed weekdays you read the rule as a sentence: Vocational school "every second week" "on" Do (Thursday), "first on" 04.09.2026, "until" 31.07.2027. The interval runs from every week up to every fourth week, weekdays from Mon to Sat.

The date under "first on" is what matters: it anchors the interval, not the calendar week. "Every second week" counts on from that day — so a fortnightly plan cannot slip by a week.

Two things trip people up at this field most often:

• The first school day must be one of the selected weekdays. If you tick Thu and Fri but enter a Tuesday, you cannot continue: "Der erste Schultag ist ein Dienstag, dieser Wochentag ist aber nicht ausgewählt." (the first school day is a Tuesday, but that weekday is not selected).
• Nothing is created before that day, not even in the same week. If you pick Thu and Fri and enter the Friday as the first school day, you do not get the Thursday before it; from the next interval on, both days are included. "First on" is meant literally.

With "Block release" you enter the blocks via "Add period" using "From" and "To". Weekends are never created from a block.

Use "Apply this rhythm to additional employees" to set the same plan for several apprentices in one go.

Reading the preview

Under "This is how the next school days fall:" a calendar shows eight weeks, so you can see straight away whether "every second week" hits the week you mean. Below it comes the balance, in German, for example "Erzeugt 38 Berufsschultage." (38 school days will be created) and "4 Tage fallen auf einen Feiertag, Betriebsruhe oder einen arbeitsfreien Tag und werden übersprungen." (4 days fall on a public holiday, a company shutdown or a non-working day and are skipped).

Days in a closed month, days outside the employment period and days that already carry another absence are skipped as well. When you save, Gantway creates all remaining school days up to the end date at once.

Cancelling individual dates

If a school day is called off, click the cross on the date chip — "Does not take place". The day stays visible with a strikethrough and can be brought back with "Reinstate".

When you delete a rhythm: "Future school days are removed. Days already in the past are kept as a record."

When the school year ends

Six weeks before the end date the card warns: "This rhythm ends soon. Extend it for the new school year." Gantway also sends a notification once — otherwise the company plans into a void in the new school year.

When creating the new rhythm, one rule applies: two periods must not overlap. If the old one still reaches into the new one, Gantway reports "Es gibt bereits einen Berufsschul-Rhythmus von … bis …. Zeiträume dürfen sich nicht überschneiden." (a vocational school rhythm from … to … already exists; periods must not overlap). Correct the end date of the old one first. Joining them seamlessly is allowed — old one until 31 July, new one from 1 August.

Where the school day shows up

On the Absences page in the "Team Calendar" tab in teal and in the "All Absences" tab as "Vocational School", under Time Tracking as "Schule" (school), and on the Desk and in the Gantt chart.