On-demand webinar

Ask the Inspector

Name: Ask the Inspector
Start: 2021-05-26T00:00:00.000Z

Marina Gaze, former Deputy Director for FE and Skills at Ofsted, answers providers' questions on inspection, common mistakes and improving quality. Recorded in 2021.

Recorded · 26 May 2021

This is an older recording. Some of it is out of date: see what's still relevant and what has changed.

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Speakers

Dr Louise Karwowski
Former VP Neuro-inclusion Training, Cognassist
Marina Gaze
Former Deputy Director, FE and Skills, Ofsted, Independent

Ask the Inspector with Marina Gaze

This was our first Ask the Inspector event. Dr Louise Karwowski, Cognassist’s Director of Education, put providers’ questions to Marina Gaze, former Deputy Director for FE and Skills at Ofsted, live and from questions sent in beforehand.

What we cover

Marina's top tips for apprenticeship providers
The most common mistakes Marina sees
Ofsted as inspections restarted after COVID

Feedback from the people who joined included “every single thing that was said felt like gold dust” and “my whole understanding of Ofsted has changed”.

The highlights are also written up in Got inspection questions? Ask the Inspector: Q&A.

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Recorded May 2021 · reviewed October 2026

What's still relevant

The mistakes Marina sees most often: not knowing learners well enough at the start, and not thinking about the order in which content is taught.
A practical way to improve: tackle the real problem, work in short cycles and check the impact on learners after four to six weeks.
Supporting learners with maths anxiety, and adult learners who hide a learning difficulty.
Involving employers in planning on- and off-the-job learning, and using a baseline assessment to measure progress.

What's out of date

Ofsted's framework and grades (from 4:26). Ofsted had just resumed inspecting after COVID, under the 2019 framework with its key judgements and outstanding-to-inadequate grades. Now: Since November 2025, Ofsted inspection reports have had no overall grade. Each area is graded on a five-point scale, and inclusion is graded in its own right.
Funding for initial assessment (from 27:51). It discusses an ESFA proposal, then out for consultation, to stop funding initial assessment. Now: The ESFA closed in March 2025 and apprenticeship funding rules are now set by DWP. Initial assessment is an eligible cost within the apprenticeship price; a further assessment of need is not fundable.
The provider register (from 4:04). It refers to newly approved providers on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP). Now: RoATP and the end-point assessment register merged into the Apprenticeship Providers and Assessment Register (APAR) on 1 August 2023.
About Cognassist (from 34:38). It says Cognassist had assessed over 100,000 apprentices. Now: More than 400,000 learners have been assessed across FE, apprenticeships and adult skills.