Academic Charter

The Canadian Academy of Osteopathy is proud to be a part of the rich history of education in the provinces of Ontario and Alberta.

Hamilton, ON

We recognize that the land on which we gather is the traditional territory shared between the Haudenosaunee confederacy and the Anishinaabeg nations, which was acknowledged in the Dish with One Spoon wampum belt. That wampum uses the symbolism of a dish to represent the territory, and one spoon to represent that the people are to share the resources of the land and only take what they need. We acknowledge that we are all treaty people and accept our responsibility to honour all our relations and respect the lands where this educational institution resides.

Calgary, AB

In the spirit of respect, reciprocity, and truth, we honour and acknowledge Mo’kinsstis, and the traditional Treaty 7 territory and oral practices of the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, as well as Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina nations. We acknowledge that this territory is home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3 within the historical Northwest Métis homeland. Finally, we acknowledge all Nations – Indigenous and non – who live, work, and play on this land, and who honour and celebrate this territory. This sacred gathering place provides us with an opportunity to engage in and demonstrate leadership on reconciliation. Thank you for your enthusiasm and commitment to join our team on the lands of Treaty 7 territory.

Guiding Principles And Values

Pursue excellence in academic quality, osteopathic care, and customer service to the public.
Embrace learning-centered approach to learning and teaching based on the application of Classical Osteopathic principles and practices.
Remain locally grounded but expand access nationally and beyond.
Foster personal and professional growth through leadership development, selfcare and healing, critical self-reflection, correction, and appraisal.
Uphold osteopathic professional practice standards and benchmark statement educational standards to ensure practice excellence of our graduates.

Our Academic Priorities

Learning For Success
Accessible & Flexible Pathways
Empowering Students to Lead
Remaining Authentic to Classical Osteopathy
Building a Culture of Quality & Academic Integrity
Reflective Practice & Scholarship
Community Health Impact
Learning Innovation for Practice
Vibrant Learning Spaces
Technology-Enhanced Learning

Theme 1

Learning For Success

The CAO endeavors through academic advising and support, to help students by facilitating their educational success. We recognize that each student brings their own unique set of knowledge, skills, aspirations and challenges, and our goal is to assist every learner in reaching their goals.

We are committed to making inclusive, accessible learning typical practice. We will strive to expand access to learning through the removal of barriers and the development of pathways that support continued learning for learners. Faculty will embrace a range of teaching strategies to meet the needs of all learners.

We acknowledge it is our ongoing responsibility to enhance access to the educational experience and to foster a climate of mutual respect, dignity, and equitable treatment by designing facilities, systems, services, and curricula in such a way that the need for individual accommodation is minimized.

The CAO endeavors to provide excellence in customer service to our community members with disabilities in our public clinic. As such, to ensure that we foster an environment of respect, dignity and inclusion, the CAO shall ensure accommodations are met in the areas of communication, assistive devices, use of animal and support persons, notice of temporary disruption, staff training, and feedback.

1. Priority Actions

Re-design and enhance the organization student success structure to provide additional support for students requiring academic advising, accommodation, a temporary program leave, and course remediation or repeat.
Expansion of the peer tutoring program to allow all students across all years to receive tutoring and for upper year students to be tutors to other fellow students.
Re-design and implement enhanced processes, procedures, and protocols for students with changes in academic standing.
Expand course recovery and remediation models and evaluate their effectiveness and impact.
Apply early warning and intervention strategies to identify and support students at risk.
Disseminate changes to policies, procedures, and protocols through multiple mediums to ensure consistency and appropriateness of outreach.
Develop various handbooks and manuals to disseminate information and strategies to students and other specific audiences (e.g., Financial Aid Manual; CAO Student Handbook).
Apply Universal Design for Learning principles into our curriculum design, program delivery, and implementation of assessments.Study the impact of success strategies such as: assignment remediation; examination retakes; increased test taking time allotments, etc.
Achieve financial aid granting status in all new campus locations.

Theme 2

Accessible & Flexible Pathways

Our students require flexible pathways and delivery modes to respond to their home geographical locations, family and work demands, and life’s complexities. Students are assigned to designated class groups in a cohort arrangement that remain constant for the duration of their study at the CAO.

Students find the cohort arrangement allows themt of orgea bond with their classmates which is imperative for academic support, mentorship, and engagement.

The CAO is planning on increasing the diversity of its student population by welcoming and hosting international students at their campus of choice (wh en app roved) . It is our hope that international student graduates stay in Canada and become employed citizens in the discipline of Osteopathy.

The CAO attracts students from the GTA (Durham, Peel, and York), City of Toronto, from all outlying regions of Ontario, as well as from other provinces across Canada. The CAO has built a solid reputation not only within its own catchment area, but throughout all areas of Ontario and beyond. The demand from students in Western Ca nada has led to the CAO opening a campus in Calgary, Alberta in 2020.

The CAO is embarking on the journey to expand flexibility in our program offerings for our students which will open doors to obtaining postsecondary education.

2. Priority Actions

Applying and seeking approval from the provincial government for the CAO to be recognized as a Designated Learning Institution for international students.
Develop policies, procedures, and protocols and incorporate resources for accepting and providing education to international students.
Develop modular, short learning units and micro credentials for students and alumni.
Integrate mobile, flexible, and part-time learning options to enable graduates to progress through a range of learning opportunities (i.e., credit and non-credit courses, micro credentials, seminars).
Enhance student mobility by increasing access to pathways into our osteopathic program and between semesters and years (i.e., three semester per year; multiple intakes).
Offer graduates to audit courses to remain current.
Explore partnerships with other postsecondary institutions for continued learning.
Develop strategic employer or educational partnerships, locally and globally to ensure students encounter best practices and a world-view perspective from industry experts in the field of osteopathy.

Theme 3

Remaining Authentic to Classical Osteopathy

The CAO educates students in the philosophy, science, and technique of Osteopathy. We remain dedicated to providing professional education that develop excellence in the understanding, and application of Classical Osteopathic principles and practices through manipulative treatment.

These methods, which are derived from internationally recognized osteopathic practice standards and educational benchmarks for programs of osteopathy, result in outstanding clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.

It is critical to acknowledge that Osteopathic treatment without the application of principles is simply not osteopathy. This inadequate approach would be regarded as simply manual techniques applied to different parts of the body that could not be distinguished from any other form of manual therapy. It is our belief that the theory and application of these principles is the root of all assessment, hypotheses development and selection of appropriate and individualized treatment methods.

An understanding of the principles and their inherent meaning, purpose and effect allows the osteopathic practitioner to be innovative, safe, ethical, and effective in the provision of customized, patient-focused, and professional care. We will remain diligent in remaining authentic to this approach and it will serve as a lens through which we design new curriculum, teaching methodologies, learning strategies, and assessments.

3. Priority Actions

Mapping of new courses to a framework that is inclusive of the principles of Classical Osteopathy.
Course descriptions and learning outcomes are created and written through the lens of Classical Osteopathy.
Marketing materials and corporate documents are to reflect the principles and philosophy of Classical Osteopathy.
Integrate osteopathic theory, philosophy, and history into program re-design elements.
Dissemination of research and scholarship (i.e., scholarship of teaching and learning) about teaching methodologies and learning strategies that align with and supported by principles of Classical Osteopathy.
Obtain membership with OIA (Osteopathic International Alliance).

Theme 4

Empowering Students to Lead

The CAO encourages students to take increasingly robust leadership roles as they progress in the program to foster leadership competency development in preparation for graduation as novice independent manual osteopathic practitioners in independent practice.

Leadership requires self-awareness, critical reflection, motivation to learn and grow, and analysis as foundation for leadership development. It involves taking the responsibility to define one’s own leadership practice, style and approach.

Our students are focused, driven, and hardworking, and they are also passionate; about the body; about natural health, and about helping people. This combination of qualities not only makes for a professional and competent practitioner but it also makes for the development of a leader in practice and in the field of osteopathy.

Student participation on Student Council is to foster student engagement, leadership, and citizenship as well as to promote student community development through the hosting of various events throughout each year of the program.

4. Priority Actions

Include upper-year student membership on relevant internal and external committees (i.e., Curriculum & Policy Committee, and CAO Program Advisory Committee)
Embed leadership knowledge and competencies into curriculum of existing and new part-time course offerings (i.e., Business Leadership & Management).
Support peer tutoring by upper-year students at all campus locations.
Ensure seamless process for students to assume role of CAO Class Representatives or Co-Representatives.
Continue to support the CAO Student Council in its mandate.
Incorporate seminar format into new course development that is student-driven and faculty-structured and requires student-led presentations, mentorship, and discussions.
Integrate the concept of directed learning forums for the Foundations of Anatomy and Physiology course during program re-design to foster independent learning.
Integrate the CAO Ambassador Program at all campus locations.
Encourage and foster student volunteering opportunities for school-related activities and special event attendance as well as to participate in community action events.
Support Student Clinic hosting of ‘Special Case Clinics’ exclusively for year 4 students that focus on specific disease populations.

Theme 5

Building a Culture of Academic Quality

The CAO recognizes the importance of creating, developing, and delivering a comprehensive quality assurance process to ensure academic and service excellence.

We believe that learning has the power to change lives in simple and profound ways. We are accountable to our learners, our employees, our communities and to the public, for the quality of the learning experiences we provide, and for the resources we use.

Our approach to quality extends beyond the rigorous compliance with external and government regulations, standards, and practices, and strives to further uphold our institutional principle to ‘pursue excellence’ to advance our mission.

It is our belief that when faculty engage in scholarly activities, our students are better prepared for the future workplace and we are better equipped to meet program standards.

The CAO is guided by policies and procedures that protect the rights and responsibilities of all students, staff, faculty, and patients. These policies and procedures are reflective of the CAO’s mission, vision, and value statements, and support the CAO’s commitment to providing a supportive, professional, and safe learning, teaching, and working environment for all.

5. Priority Actions

Develop and apply relevant policies and procedures for curriculum review and policy development (i.e., Curriculum & Policy Advisory Committee policy).
Integrate a communication strategy so that students, staff, and patients become familiar with the new development and revisions of all relevant research policies and procedures.
Ensure curriculum modifications align to international standards and benchmarks using the framework of Benchmarks for Osteopathy (WHO, 2010) and CSA Z16686:20 Osteopathic healthcare provision (EN 166896:2015, MOD) during annual review and comprehensive program review.
Re-design standardized course outline template for new course development in accordance to the Course Outline policy and procedures.
Implement a CAO Program Advisory Committee strategy to ensure value, consistency, growth, and renewal of membership. Enhance and implement annual program review and comprehensive review processes and procedures.
Formalize an annual and comprehensive program review process.
Constitute a Curriculum & Policy Advisory Committee to ensure consistency in the monitoring of quality assurances processes.
Provide faculty professional development regarding academic quality and program review program through various avenues (i.e., seminars, workshops).
Develop faculty learning tools regarding program modifications arising from outcomes of annual or comprehensive program review.
Expansion of the Office of Program Excellence and Quality Assurance to provide curricular support, guidance, and oversight of quality assurance policies, processes, and mechanisms.

Theme 6

Scholarship, Reflective Practice & Entrepreneurship

The CAO believes it has a significant role in educating future graduates as scholars in the field of osteopathy. Recent research conducted by the National Council for Osteopathic Research (2019) in the United Kingdom found that patients were more satisfied with their osteopathic care than what they have previously received by other manual health professions. High patient satisfaction ratings arose from the unique osteopathic approach to patient care.

Students at the CAO embark on an exciting journey of discovery, self-reflection, personal and professional growth, and achievement. We will equip our learners to be autonomous and accountable in their practice endeavors so that they can operate an osteopathic clinic for the public in a safe, ethical, and professional manner.

The CAO is striving to create a culture of scholarship and has adopted the understanding of scholarly activity as derived from the Boyer Model of Scholarship. The CAO has begun its pursuit of excellence in all forms of scholarship including teaching models and practices. The CAO believes it is responsible for transparency of its procedure and promoting a clear understanding of the issues involved in maintaining the highest standards in research, teaching, learning, and other aspects of scholarship.

The CAO is responsible for providing an environment that encourages recognition of ethical standards and is accountable for developing and reviewing policies and practices to ensure highest ethical standards are maintained over time.

6. Priority Actions

Develop and initiate a CAO-Research Ethics Board (REB)
Develop and apply various research policies and procedures for the conduct of research and dissemination and sharing of findings.
Create faculty and staff resources for research (i.e., Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; Guidelines on Conflict of Interest).
Faculty and staff professional development on research and research-related topics.
Re-establish the Canadian Journal of Osteopathy, the ‘Osteopathyst,’ representing principles-based history, theory, and treatment.
Embed opportunities into curriculum for faculty and staff to submit scholarly work to the professional publication for publication.
Embed reflective practice into curriculum of all practice courses with an experiential learning component.
Continue to support students apply for membership at Osteopathy Canada and CICO.
Embed research and scholarship competencies into curriculum modification processes including research appraisal and utilization.
Enhance emerging employability skills such as entrepreneurship, personal resilience, and self-care, and leadership and business management into curriculum.
Pursue research collaborations and partnerships with the other institutions.
Explore financial and human resources to allow for the expansion of faculty engagement in research and scholarly activities.
Establish a core faculty research group who will lead the agenda for research engagement, dissemination, and sharing.
Transfer of new knowledge from research projects into curriculum.
Dissemination and sharing of scholarship and practice with faculty and students.
Development of research capacity within all learners and faculty.
Implementation of an industry mentorship program to ensure relevant and current principles-based osteopathic clinical education.

Theme 7

Community Health Impact

Osteopathic care makes a substantial contribution to healthcare across the globe. The evidence for effectiveness of manual therapies is growing and becoming more robust. At the CAO’s student clinic facility in Hamilton, they offer free clinic treatments to the public. In fact, their students and faculty have provided over 100,000 free treatments to the Hamilton community since opening.

Our faculty have extensive experience in their osteopathic field as independent osteopathic manual practitioners, and are committed to creating an engaging and inclusive learning environment that integrates applied and experiential skill development into the learning process.

The MOPP lab provides students with opportunities to learn practical skill acquisition and to apply advanced Osteopathic Manual Therapies (OMT) to osteopathic practice so it is a critical course and pre-requisite for all Practice courses. Clinic is an opportunity for students to gain valuable practical experience providing care while under instructor or TA supervision. The student clinic participation is mandatory during each practical semester. Students are required to complete 1,000 mandatory practice hours that includes providing osteopathic care to patient in the Public Student Clinic in accordance to both the WHO Educational Benchmarks (2010) and the CSA Z16686:20 Osteopathic healthcare provision (EN 166896:2015, MOD).

7. Priority Actions

Re-design and re-format the MOPP and CLNC courses for continual lab or practice experiences in every semester over 4 years.
Open public student clinic in every campus location.
Provide resources (capital, financial, human resources) for all student clinics.
Conduct research to determine the impact of the public clinic on community health.

Theme 8

Learning Innovation for Practice

Our program embeds experiential and work-integrated, community-based learning opportunities into each year. As student’s progress through the program, knowledge and skill acquisition develop, as well as their responsibility for the clinical reasoning, decision-making, management, and treatment of patients. Experiential learning requires self-reflection, critical analysis (including correction) and synthesis while enhancing your teamwork, leadership, and communication skills as an osteopathic manual practitioner.

We will continue to provide extensive practical training in our Not-for-Profit Student Clinics where students will have an opportunity to give back to the community while engaging in an in-depth clinic experience with real patients, giving you a strong foundation for life in practice. Their clinic studies will provide students with unrivalled opportunities to care for a wide range of patients from a diverse range of backgrounds and different demographics. As students’ progress throughout the program, they will be provided with other innovative experiences that include: shadowing graduates; mentoring partnerships, table-tutor training, and Teaching Assistant rotations for under-year classes. Embedding osteopathic practice standards into curriculum plays a central role in ensuring the benchmarks for osteopathic education, and training are achieved as well as providing a framework for safe, competent, and ethical practice of Osteopathy.

8. Priority Actions

Re-imagine Preceptor Shadowing opportunities for students in Years 1-3.
Facilitate active, continual, and progressive applied learning through expanded techniques such as experiential/hands-on learning into each semester of the program.
Establish Not-for-Profit Student Clinics in each campus’s city location.
Align assessments and evaluation of practice courses with Professional Practice Standards of Osteopathy (CSA Z16686:20 Osteopathic healthcare provision (EN 166896:2015, MOD).
Continue to integrate graduate shadowing, partnership mentoring, and table-tutor training, into all practice-focused courses.
Continue to utilize osteopathic practice standards in defining the expectations for all theoretical and practice courses (laboratory and clinic).
Disseminate best practices of practical assessment and examination strategies (i.e., MOPP Module 6; Mid-Clinical Oral Practical (OP) and Exit OP).
Continue to create alternative strategies for students to gain practice competency (i.e., student exchange days).

Theme 9

Vibrant Learning Spaces

The CAO seeks to create learning environments that draw on collaborative, experiential, and critical perspectives.

The CAO has improved and renovated its Hamilton campus spaces that recognizes and celebrates the building’s past as well as incorporating modern spaces for learning, teaching, and working.

Our classrooms, laboratories, and clinics are vibrant learning spaces where instructors and students remain focused, diligent, and engaged in learning and teaching; while modeling professionalism, compassion, and caring—for each other, their clients, and the surrounding community—and practicing respect for natural health and the body as whole.

Within our lab and clinic learning environments, students gain a hands-on appreciation of the interrelatedness of structure and function in preventative and therapeutic patient care. Technology is carefully integrated into the lab environment with the use of multi screens to enhance visualization of demonstrations or faculty lectures from all vantage points.

Clinic and lab safety and practice efficiency is essential and to protect our faculty, students, and patients and to accommodate those of all sizes, labs and clinics are outfitted with custom hydraulic treatments tables.

The CAO has provided a dedicated private-use space for students that can be used for family, or religious accommodation requirements (i.e., prayer, breastfeeding, etc.).

9. Priority Actions

Business plan to incorporated capital and instructional supplies for space revitalization and furniture/equipment renewal and replacement.
Replicate innovative learning spaces at each campus location.
Incorporate additional space requirements or considerations as appropriate and needed.

Theme 10

Technology-Enhanced Learning

Given the changing landscape of education locally and abroad, the CAO will use technology in our program design and delivery to enrich learning and engage learners utilizing a multi-mode teaching approach. We acknowledge that technology-enhanced technology in teaching and learning is an integral part of postsecondary education. Appropriate and meaningful use of technology provides increased access and flexibility while at the same time allowing learners to collaborate and learn from each other. A multi-mode delivery approach used at the CAO includes in-person lecture/lab, online lecture (synchronous), online lecture (asynchronous), seminar (faculty-structured) and directed learning forums.

Faculty strive to deliver courses in real time to foster student interaction and engagement whether it be in a specific learning environment (classroom, laboratory, or clinic) or a virtual place at a set time. We have found that providing the opportunity for an online lecture format in a synchronous delivery allows students time to absorb and reflect upon the content and/or to conduct further research before posing questions or seeking clarification as well as to avoid unnecessary travel in to the campus for the many students that live outside of the campus area.

10. Priority Actions

Balance of online and in-person delivery of courses to maintain student engagement and connectedness while providing flexible delivery options.
Faculty professional development opportunities of effective teaching learning approaches for online delivery to promote student engagement and ease of navigation.
Integrate concepts related to technology into new course development for part-time offerings (i.e., Business Leadership & Management; Orthopaedic Medical Imaging; Personal Finance Management).
Integration of a new learning management system (i.e., Brightspace™) to allow students to access content, quizzes, final examinations, and learning resources.