Policy Advisory Library (PAL)

Topics A-Z (Click on the letter)

About PAL

The Policy and Advisory Library (PAL) for schools is a comprehensive one-stop-shop for all Department policy and related operational guidance and resources that apply to Victorian government schools.

School-based staff are the main audience for PAL. It was created as part of the Employee Wellbeing and Operational Policy reforms and brings together all sources of Department policy for schools that previously existed in multiple locations, replacing the School Policy and Advisory Guide (SPAG) and some other sections of the Department’s website and intranet. PAL launched on 15 June 2020.

Structure of PAL

PAL topics are divided into 3 tabs:

Policy – outlines official Department policy. Sometimes this tab is labelled ‘Advice’ when the content is not a policy but is important operational advice on a topic. This page also includes the following information: Policy last updated, Scope, and Contact. This information is located on the right hand side of the page when using a desktop or notebook computer or at the bottom of the page on a mobile device.
Guidance – this is where more detailed and often lengthier information is provided such as guidelines and procedures to implement the policy. There is a menu to navigate the table of contents for lengthier information in this tab. This is found on the right hand side when using a desktop or notebook computer or in the ‘View all chapters’ menu on a mobile device.
Resources – these are links to other websites and downloadable resources that schools can use to help with implementing the policy or guidance.

All human resources (HR) topics that apply to school-based staff have transitioned from HRWeb to PAL. They have retained the same structure as content on HRWeb with the three tabs being Overview, Policy and Guidelines, Resources.

Searching PAL

There are three ways to find a topic in PAL:

Keyword search – simply type a keyword in to the search bar to see all search results from within PAL. Pages from other areas of the Department of Education and Training's website will not appear in the results. You can search on PAL using Boolean operators.
A-Z index – this lists all topics in PAL regardless of subject matter or category. Topics are listed only once – there are no longer multiple entries for the same topic. For this reason we have tried to make topic names as intuitive as possible. If you can’t find what you are looking for in the A-Z, try the keyword search function instead.
Filter topics by category – this enables users to filter the A-Z by a particular category. For example, you can choose to view only policies that have been categorised as HR policies, or OHS, or School Council policies.

To search for key words within a page on PAL when using a desktop or notebook computer, press the Control and F keys (Ctrl+F) simultaneously to bring up a search bar which can be used to search for text within the current page.

When using a mobile device, click on the More Options (3 dots) icon to access the Find in page function.

Print whole topic function

The Print whole topic button allows you to print a copy of a whole PAL topic, including all tabs and any chapters within the guidance. This button is located on the right-hand side of every PAL topic page when using a desktop or notebook computer or at the bottom of the page on a mobile device. Using this function will open the whole PAL topic in a new window in a printer-friendly format, which can then be printed or saved as a PDF version.

To ensure that you are referring to the most up to date version of a policy, it is recommended that when using a printed or PDF version of a policy, you first check the web version to verify the date that the policy was last updated. This information is located on the right hand side of the page when using a desktop or notebook computer or at the bottom of the page on a mobile device.