Welcome to the Living Classroom – Transforming Health Care Education 

The Living Classroom is a groundbreaking training model that educates and prepares the next generation of health care 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 seniors with confidence and excellence.

What Sets the Living Classroom Apart?

• An Immersive Learning Environment: Students spend valuable instruction time inside a 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 a growing demand for skilled and compassionate health care providers, this model ensures graduates are workplace-ready from day one. Students receive hands-on experience that prepares 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.

Growth of the Program

A pioneering partnership in 2009 between Conestoga College, the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA), and Schlegel Villages launched the initial Living Classroom model for long-term care education. A formalized program is currently funded by the Government of Ontario and led by the 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 the province, and further growth with each wave of funding.

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