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Welcome to the Living Classroom – Transforming Health Care Education 

The Living Classroom (LC) is a groundbreaking training model that educates and prepares the next generation of Personal Support Worker (PSW) and Practical Nursing (PN) students by immersing them directly in the heart of long-term care homes. Through hands-on experience, mentorship, and real-world interaction, students develop the essential skills and deep compassion required to care for older adults with confidence and professional excellence.

What Sets the Living Classroom (LC) Apart?

• An Immersive Learning Environment: Students spend valuable instructional time in a long-term care home setting, working alongside professionals, interacting with residents, and applying their learning in meaningful, real-world circumstances far beyond the traditional classroom experience.
• A Collaborative and Supportive Culture: The Living Classroom fosters a team-based approach, bringing together faculty, residents, families, and care teams to create a rich learning environment that enhances both student education and resident well-being.
• Building a Stronger Healthcare Workforce: With growing demand for skilled, compassionate healthcare providers, this model ensures graduates are workplace-ready from day one. Students receive hands-on experience that equips them to deliver best practices in senior care and sets them up for long-term career success in this vital sector.
• Driving Innovation in Personalized Care: The Living Classroom serves as a catalyst for new ideas and improved care approaches, helping shape the future of senior care. Each Living Classroom is designed to meet the unique needs of the partnering long-term care home and educational institution, ensuring that training methods and care approaches are adaptable, effective, and applicable to the people they serve.

A Government of Ontario Funded Program

The initial Living Classroom model for long-term care education was established in 2009 through a pioneering partnership between Conestoga College, Schlegel Villages, and the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA) in Waterloo, Ontario.  Building on that success, a formalized province-wide Living Classroom program was launched in 2023. The program is currently funded by the Government of Ontario and led by the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA), in partnership with the Ontario Association of Adult and Continuing Education School Board Administrators (CESBA). There are now Living Classrooms in every health region across Ontario, and with each type of education partner, including public colleges, private career colleges, Indigenous institutes, and school boards – and further growth continues.

The Living Classroom Supports Experiential Learning for:

Personal Support Workers (PSW) Students: The Heart of Daily Care

Who is a PSW? Personal Support Workers are foundational members of the healthcare team in long-term care homes. Beyond assisting residents with activities of daily living, PSWs are the primary observers of residents’ health and the champions of their social and emotional well-being. They promote independence and dignity, provide essential comfort, and act as a vital link between the resident, their family, and the broader healthcare team.

The Living Classroom Advantage: The immersive LC model equips students with the clinical capabilities and confidence needed to handle the evolving complexities of senior care. Through experiential learning “early and often” alongside residents and healthcare professionals, students develop the deep empathy and skills required to be workplace-ready professionals from the moment they graduate.

Practical Nursing (PN) Students: Bridging Care and Clinical Leadership

Who is a PN? Practical Nursing students who later become Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) blend advanced clinical skills with deep personal interaction to provide complex nursing care. Their role includes managing specialized medical treatments, performing health assessments, and providing clinical leadership within an interprofessional care team.

The Living Classroom Advantage: The LC program prepares nursing students to navigate and excel within challenging, real-world healthcare environments. Through hands-on mentorship, they learn to apply clinical best practices while building lasting relationships unique to the long-term care setting.

Bring the Living Classroom to Your Community

Educational institutions or long-term care homes looking to enhance their Personal Support Worker (PSW) and/or Practical Nursing (PN) training through hands-on learning can apply for funding to establish or refresh a Living Classroom.

Wave 5 applications for funding of PSW and PN cohorts for Winter, Spring, and Fall of 2027 will open in August 2026 (PN) and September 2026 (PSW)

Go to the FUND page for specific dates and more information on the application process

Interested in building your own Living Classroom?

Please contact us to request additional support.

“Working with Sunnyside has been amazing. Living Classroom life was a beautiful experience, something truly new and special. It was the first time learning didn’t feel limited to books or walls. Every moment was alive with curiosity, laughter, and discovery. We weren’t just listening or memorizing; we were learning by doing, touching real experiences, and understanding lessons as they happened. There was so much joy in practicing what we learned right away. Mistakes turned into smiles, questions turned into adventures, and every day felt meaningful. The classroom felt alive—with ideas, teamwork, and small, beautiful moments that stayed in the heart. It was fun, inspiring, and unforgettable, a place where learning felt natural, exciting, and full of life.”

• PSW Student, Sunnyside Home – WCDSB Living Classroom