PSW Personal Support Worker

College Diploma Fraud Article from the Toronto Star

Toronto Star

This past week the Toronto Star posted an illuminating investigation on College’s selling fake diplomas.

The story features a reporter (DIANA ZLOMISLIC ) posing as a personal support worker student for at a private college in Toronto (Ontario Academy of Science and Technology). To make a long story short Diana pays the owner of the school, Ken Miller, $480 under the table to receive her PSW Certificate in two weeks. Obviously Diana did not complete the required in-class or co-op portions of the class. The owner even backdated the certificate to May 2009, to make it look like she didn’t just graduate, along with setting up fake co-op placement references.

I look at this article in a couple of different ways. Firstly, I hope that the findings of this investigation does not turn individuals off hiring or leaving seniors in the care of qualified personal support workers. Secondly, I hope this article and the potential backlash from it gets the Ontario government to get their act in gear and shut these scam schools down. The article outlines that they have been under investigation for three weeks. The PSW industry and others taught at private colleges across the province are at risk of losing credibility in the public’s eyes.

It’s an interesting read to say the least. The link to the article is at the top of this post.