Offered by Sheridan College in Oakville, Canada, Cert in Personal Support Worker (Living Classroom) is a certificate in Nursing programme. The programme runs for 1 year, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 20,933 per total (CAD 5,191 per total for local students).
Across two semesters, students learn to deliver person-centred, emotion-based care to clients of all ages who require support because of illness, aging or disability. Coursework covers assisting with mobility, such as transferring and lifting clients, delivering personal care that upholds dignity and respect, reducing isolation through social engagement, building therapeutic communication and relationships, and supporting people living with common acute and chronic illnesses.
Clinical practice exceeds 300 hours in a long-term care facility or community setting, with placements arranged and overseen by faculty. The curriculum follows an emotion-based care philosophy built around the Personal Support Worker Standard set by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, and is taught by professors who are experienced nurses holding a bachelor's or a master's degree.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Academic (Ontario basis): an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or accepted equivalent carrying one Grade 12 English (ENG4C or ENG4U). Applicants aged 19 or over who are short a requirement may apply as mature students, and may be asked to sit Sheridan's English, math or science tests or to take free preparatory courses through Academic Upgrading. Eligible applicants are ranked on the average of their six highest senior-level credits, the required courses included. An international applicant must present the equivalent of these Ontario courses from their own school system, and a credential assessment may be requested; a domestic applicant schooled outside Canada has transcripts assessed through ICAS or WES. English, where English is not your first language or your earlier study was in another language: Sheridan's certificate and diploma band - IELTS Academic 6.0 with no band under 5.5, TOEFL iBT 80 with nothing under 20 (or 4.0 with no section under 4.0 on the scale used from 2026), PTE Academic 58 with no section under 49, Duolingo 105 with no subscore under 85, CAEL 60 with no section under 50; a result must be no more than 24 months old on the first day of class. This program's placement agencies require - not merely may require - a police record check for vulnerable sector persons and a current immunisation record, supplied directly to the placement before it begins and at your own expense; students who cannot meet that have limited placement options. Sheridan also sets out the physical and time demands of the role: fluency in spoken and written English, a readiness to work with seniors, the strength to push and to pull, the ability to lift and carry loads of up to 25 kg, and roughly 20 to 25 hours a week of coursework outside class.
Application Details
Start Date:Sheridan runs three terms a year - Fall starting in September, Winter in January and Spring/Summer in May. For 2026-27 the Fall term ran 8 September to 18 December 2026, Winter runs 6 January to 16 April 2027, and Spring/Summer runs 3 May to 13 August 2027. On 6 September 2026 the Personal Support Worker page listed the Village of Erin Meadows (Schlegel Villages) delivery with September 2026 and January 2027 intakes, alongside the Hazel McCallion Campus listing. Sheridan's Start date table also carries a separate Domestic and International status for each intake (Available, Waitlisted or Closed) that changes as seats fill, so check this program's page on sheridancollege.ca before you apply.
Application Deadline:Sheridan publishes no deadline of its own for this program; the dates below are the college-wide ones. DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents) apply through ontariocolleges.ca, which opened the Fall 2027 application on 26 September 2026 - Sheridan says it starts receiving those applications in early October for the academic year that follows. The equal consideration date is 1 February: apply on or before it and your file is weighed alongside every other one received by then for a Fall-term start, so for the cycle now open that means 1 February 2027 for entry in September 2027. Sheridan still accepts applications after that date wherever a program has not filled, but they are handled in the order they arrive, which leaves little room in high-demand programs. First offers for a September start may go out from 1 November; programs that require a portfolio, audition or resume begin issuing decisions later in March, and offers for the Winter and Spring/Summer intakes are made on a rolling basis. Confirm a Fall offer at ontariocolleges.ca by 1 May, or by the date printed on an offer issued after that, then pay the tuition deposit three months before the term begins. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS apply instead through Sheridan's own International Application Portal, and Sheridan publishes no deadline for them - its Important Dates table carries only a note that the international dates are still to be posted. What limits an international application in practice is space: Sheridan tells international applicants to check that a program still has room before applying, and every program page shows a separate International status for each intake. Apply as early as you can and leave time for a study permit. Confirm the current dates at sheridancollege.ca and ontariocolleges.ca before you apply.
