Seems the Ontario government has left a nice gap in their approach to solving the staffing crisis. If a paid practicum is not mandated, it won’t be paid. Pretty simple. This begs a couple of questions:
Is it up to the student to find paid practical assignments or is the practical part of the course arranged between the school and LTC homes and the student has no say in where they go for this part…perhaps some homes pay?
Is this the only health care related training program where there are barriers to, or lack of opportunity, for paid practicum?
In January 2021 the Ontario government announced it is "providing $2.4 million to train up to 300 personal support workers for positions in long-term care homes in the Ottawa area....Following a unique delivery model, this program will pair four days of academic instruction with one day of volunteer experience at a long-term care home per week." The program was partnering with the private Willis Business College rather than Algonquin or Cite Collegial. considered experienced, quality colleges. While this program is offered at no cost to the students and they volunteer one day a week in a LTC home, that is not how some students feel.
According to a recent article in the Ottawa Citizen, students say they were misled about provincially funded PSW training program. Read the article here.
