Vocational school
"After block teaching you're coming in for the afternoon."
You have a week of block teaching and are still expected at work.
§ 15 Abs. 1 BBiG / § 9 JArbSchG
The boss may NOT do that
In a block week of at least 25 hours you are off for the whole week.
With block teaching of at least 25 scheduled hours on at least five days, the company may not employ you that week (§ 15 (1) BBiG) — this has applied to all trainees since 2020. Only in-company training sessions of up to two hours a week are allowed, e.g. a short lesson at the company, not normal work. The block week counts with your average weekly training time (§ 15 (2) BBiG), so you have no minus hours.
What the law says
§ 15 (1) BBiG – Block teaching
Trainees may not be employed in school weeks with scheduled block teaching of at least 25 hours on at least five days; additional in-company training sessions of up to two hours a week are permitted.
§ 15 (2) BBiG – Crediting
School weeks under paragraph 1 are credited with the average weekly training time.
What you can do
- Check the block plan: at least 25 hours on five days?
- A short training session at the company (up to 2 hours) is allowed, normal work is not.
- There may be no minus hours for the block week.
- Enter the block week fully in your training log.
Email template for your trainer
Subject: Work during block teaching
Dear [name of trainer],
in the week of [date] I have block teaching with [hours] lessons on five days. Under § 15 (1) BBiG I may not be employed at the company that week; only in-company training sessions of up to two hours are permitted.
I would therefore ask you not to put me on the roster that week.
Kind regards
[Your name]