There are many ideas, concepts, guidelines and best practices for organising full-day school. At the same time, however, there are also a number of hurdles to overcome – pedagogical, spatial, but above all logistical and administrative. We asked schools what specific challenges they face in managing full-day school in practice. The feedback shows that it is not only major structural issues, but above all the many small, daily organisational hurdles that push teams to their limits.
1. Keeping track – attendance & collection times
In full-day school, those responsible must always know which children are present and when, and who will pick them up. Discrepancies often arise between different lists – this juggling of information leads to uncertainty and increased effort.
“One child is leaving early today for a doctor’s appointment – this is noted on a piece of paper in the office, but not on the list in the group room.”
2. Attendances and absences without chaos
Children get sick, are picked up early or change their extracurricular activities at short notice. Schools and parents need to be able to communicate changes quickly and reliably to all relevant parties.
“Parents cannot correct pick-up times themselves once they have been entered – this complicates matters and creates additional journeys.”
3. Plan and settle lunch
Organising lunch involves more than just ordering food. Schools must check daily that meals have been registered for all children present, communicate with caterers and ensure that parents are billed.
“Every day, we check whether food has been ordered for all the children present – this takes an enormous amount of time.”
4. Working group and course organisation in constant change
The dynamic selection of working groups, which often changes from week to week or even daily, makes planning difficult. Timetables, group assignments and communication with parents and teachers are hardly feasible without digital support.
“Children choose their clubs each week – currently, we often only know on the day itself who is where.”
5. Communication & information flow in the jungle of channels
Information often flows via paper lists, various chat groups and individual emails. As a result, important information is lost or does not reach everyone involved.
“A lot of information is shared via chats, but not everyone is in all groups – so things simply get lost.”
6. Staff shortages and gaps in coverage
Illness or absences in the team have an immediate impact on operations. Replacements are rarely available, so groups often have to be merged spontaneously or services cancelled.
“When someone is absent, the whole plan falls apart – and we have very little leeway.”
7. Holiday care and special times
In addition to regular operations, holiday programs must also be planned and organised. This means creating participant lists, coordinating supervision times, allocating rooms and staff – all on top of an already busy daily schedule.
“A single, clear registration form – that would be a dream come true.”
8. Data protection and access rights
Different groups of people – from teachers and social education workers to external course instructors – require different information. At the same time, sensitive data must be protected and legal requirements complied with.
“Youth workers should not have the same reading rights as teachers.”
In addition to the numerous challenges, the expansion of full-day school offers great opportunities for education, social development and participation. The quality of full-day school is reflected in how well it succeeds in enabling every single child to learn and live successfully. Full-day school transforms schools from mere places of learning into real living spaces and offers great opportunities. Because full-day school offers more time and a variety of learning and leisure situations, teachers can, for example, better take into account the social needs and individual learning situations of their pupils. Supported by multi-professional teams, a shared responsibility emerges in which teaching is meaningfully combined with additional learning and support opportunities. Cooperation with the world outside school also opens up new possibilities. Studies and research projects show the advantages of full-day schools:
The rapid expansion of full-day schools, partly due to the Full-Day School Support Act that will come into force in 2026, has already had many positive effects, yet many schools still face the daunting task of successfully implementing full-day school. Long-term projects such as the Study on the Development of Full-Day Schooling (StEG) or the “Science-led Quality Dialogue on Full-Day Schooling” provided a wealth of insights into the effects of full-day school and how it can be designed effectively. The “Science-led quality dialogue on full-day schooling” identified six points as central to the quality of full-day school:
To ensure that these points can also be implemented by schools in practice, brochures have been produced for each area of action, which you can download online here. There you will find an overview of how to successfully manage all-day schooling, as well as what it takes to implement good programs and strengthen cooperation within the full-day school team.
The Bertelsmann Foundation, in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Mercator Foundation and the Vodafone Foundation Germany, has gathered the experience of 10 outstanding full-day schools in order to pool practical knowledge. In “Mehr Schule wagen – Empfehlungen für guten Ganztag (Dare to do more school – recommendations for good full-day schooling)”, it shows what successful full-day schools are doing right and what other schools can use as a guide when setting up full-day schooling:
If you need assistance with implementing full-day schooling, you can find it, for example, at:
Digital systems for communication and administration can offer noticeable relief, especially given the enormous additional organisational burden on teaching and administrative staff. Our full-day school management feature will soon be available to you and will simplify the entire full-day process, whether it’s communication, registrations and cancellations, managing offers or billing. As part of the Sdui Group, our full-day school management function brings order to schools through intuitive operation, increased efficiency and reliability. Whether creating meal plans, recording registrations or deregistrations, or optimally distributing program places and care staff, the full-day school management function ensures fast, smooth planning so that more time is left for the essentials. You can find more information here.
Full-day schooling is both an opportunity and a challenge. From 2026, all children will be entitled to full-day school – opening up the possibility of making school a real living space: with greater educational equality, stronger social skills, better work-life balance and a diverse range of activities on offer. For this to succeed, schools, providers and local authorities need not only ideas, but above all good framework conditions: reliable structures, sufficient staff, flexible spaces and digital support. Science and practice show that the path to this goal is challenging, but feasible – if all those involved pull together. Full-day school is not an add-on, but the school of the future. If designed wisely, children, families and the entire education system will benefit.
