Self Assessment 

Self assessment plays a key role in the work CJI undertakes with the organisations and agencies it inspects.

At the start of each inspection, organisations are asked to carry out a self-assessment using the Common Core framework as a basis.  This method encourages organisations to focus on areas such as openness, partnership, equality, learning and results.

Each heading is broken down into areas such as management functions; planning and governance; customer focus, operations, finance and human resources.

Once the areas to be assessed are established, CJI Inspectors draw up questions designed to find out how well an organisation is performing in each area.  Questions are both evaluative and factual in nature requiring the agencies to make judgements and then secure evidence to support the judgements.

CJI sees self-assessment as a tool designed to help each agency or organisation identify areas of strength and areas for improvement in order that management effort can be targeted where it is most needed.

Often establishing a clear view of an organisation's strengths and weaknesses provides a starting point for a programme of improvement.