South Devon College SLS Case Study

South Devon College shares their experience of using the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard

What was pivotal in you securing senior management authorisation to use the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard (SLS)?

At South Devon College, we do consider ourselves to be amongst the leaders in the FE sector and the introduction of the SLS with our re-launch of our Sustainability group was timely. Our Senior Leadership Team are keen to ensure that this is embedded into both everyday teaching and learning, as well as our professional services. The SDG link up and cross reference is excellent. It is important to have clear goals and as they are pictorial, colourful and recognised worldwide this gave us a key focus and something that we could easily relate to our learners and colleagues with.

What was your approach to completing the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard?

As we don’t have the infrastructure or resource that many larger organisations have, the Head of Catering and Retail Services, who is also the sustainability lead, was the overall owner & lead. They consulted with various department heads; Procurement/HR/Property Services/Curriculum to obtain the information which is an example of how inclusive the SLS is.

Did you encourage colleagues from other Departments to participate and help you with the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard?

The starting point with each one is the policy. If you don’t have a policy, your starting point is at the first level. This then provides a clear gap, from where we are now and where we aspire to be. This was positive and a great point to start.

What are the 3 top benefits of using the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard?

1. Bringing all areas of the College together for the same reason, sustainability. This highlighted how sustainability touches all areas of the organisation & reiterated the importance of us all working together to make a difference.
2. The “at a glance” dashboard is very easy to read and compare against. The scores/links to the SDG’s that sit behind this were easy to use and access to flip between the two.
3. The Policies. To ensure you score well, you need to have a policy that includes the sustainability objectives. This is a fantastic way of ensuring organisations have these policies in place or include the sustainability agenda items.