Ready to build your confidence, develop new skills and take a positive step towards employment? This programme gives eligible unemployed Surrey residents the opportunity to gain practical, job-relevant data skills while working towards a recognised NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry for Data Technician qualification.
Learn how to work with, analyse, visualise and communicate data through practical training, with expert tutor support and six months of career support to help you prepare for your next opportunity.
If you’re currently unemployed and looking for your next opportunity, this programme is designed to help you build the practical skills, confidence and recognised qualification to support your next steps into employment.
Over 10 months, you’ll learn how to work with, cleanse, analyse, visualise and communicate data, developing practical, job-relevant skills through live online teaching, hands-on activities, data clinics and 1-to-1 support from expert tutors, with Module 4 delivered face-to-face.
You’ll work towards the NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry for Data Technician qualification and benefit from six months of career support, helping you build confidence and prepare for your next career move.
10 months (including 40 hours of live teaching and 15 hours of data clinics)
The programme runs over approximately 10 months, with 8 main training sessions from 9:30am to 3:30pm, alongside additional shorter support sessions throughout the programme. We have three upcoming cohorts starting: Monday 21st September, Thursday 8th October 2026 and Friday 23rd October 2026. Each cohort follows the same 8-module programme, with sessions taking place approximately once a month. Module 4 – ‘Blending and Merging Data’ will be delivered face-to-face. Additional support sessions are scheduled between the main training dates to help learners throughout the programme. Full session dates and timings will be provided when you enrol.
Live online group teaching with interactive learning activities, dedicated support sessions, data clinics, 1-to-1 trainer support and independent assignments, with Module 4 delivered face-to-face.
NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry for Data Technician qualification.
This training programme is fully funded through the Free Courses for Jobs funding offer. It is available to eligible learners aged 19 and over who have a home postcode within the Surrey Devolved Area. Applicants must meet the relevant funding and residency requirements, and supporting evidence will be required as part of the application process. Please note the entry and eligibility requirements listed below.
If you’re unemployed, aged 19 or over and living in Surrey, and you’re ready to build new skills that could support your next step into employment, this programme could be for you.
You’ll work towards the NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry for Data Technician qualification while developing practical, job-relevant skills and building your confidence working with data.
If you want to learn how to understand, cleanse, analyse, visualise and communicate data, you’ll gain hands-on knowledge across these key areas, with expert tutor support throughout your learning.
You’ll also benefit from six months of career support, helping you build confidence, prepare for your next steps and explore future employment opportunities.
To enrol on the NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry for Data Technician course, learners must:
Supporting evidence will be required as part of the application process.
Funding eligibility is subject to assessment. Residency requirements and supporting evidence will be checked during the application process.
If you’re unsure whether you qualify, please still complete your application and a member of the Fareport team will be happy to assess your circumstances and discuss your eligibility.
Please see start dates below:
Discover the value of data and how organisations collect, use and manage different types of information. You’ll explore data sources and formats, including numerical, time-based, geographical and media data, and gain practical experience in sourcing, extracting, migrating and preparing data for use.
Understand how organisations structure, store and govern their data while learning about the legal and ethical responsibilities involved. You’ll explore data architecture, security, GDPR and the Data Protection Act, alongside areas such as personal information, consent, copyright and data ethics.
Revisit your Data Fundamentals learning with targeted trainer support. You’ll have an opportunity to check your understanding, troubleshoot practical extraction tasks, review your evidence and receive guidance on areas that need further development.
This is a support clinic rather than an additional teaching module.
Consolidate your understanding of data architecture, legislation, security and ethics. You’ll be able to ask questions, review your evidence and strengthen your understanding of legal terminology, compliance and ethical risks.
This is a support clinic rather than an additional teaching module.
Learn how to identify and correct common data-quality issues, including errors, duplicates, missing information, obsolete data and potential bias. You’ll gain practical experience cleansing, validating and verifying data and understanding how corrective actions can improve data quality.
Develop practical skills in combining and manipulating information from different datasets. You’ll work with filtering, SQL, inner and outer joins, dataset consolidation and anomaly checking while learning how to maintain data validity and integrity.
This module is delivered face-to-face, making it ideal for practical exercises and live troubleshooting with your trainer.
Receive additional support with your data cleansing work. You’ll revisit cleansing decisions, validity testing and corrective actions, with an opportunity to troubleshoot practical issues and strengthen your work and supporting evidence.
This is a support clinic rather than an additional teaching module.
Build your confidence with SQL filtering, joins and data manipulation. You’ll have an opportunity to troubleshoot queries, check your results and develop your understanding of why different approaches are used when combining datasets.
This is a support clinic rather than an additional teaching module.
Take stock of your progress across the first four modules with a wider learning and portfolio review.
You’ll have an opportunity to identify any gaps, catch up on practical work and receive additional support with areas such as research and referencing. You’ll also identify the actions you need to take as you move into the next stage of the programme.
This is a consolidation and support session rather than an additional teaching module.
Discover how statistical techniques can be used to understand patterns, trends and relationships within data. You’ll explore data modelling, standard deviation, linear regression, clustering, time-series analysis, correlation and normalisation, and consider what your findings mean within a business context.
Learn how to transform data into clear and meaningful visual insights using tools including Power BI and Excel. You’ll develop your dashboard skills, explore different ways of presenting information and learn how to adapt visualisations for technical and non-technical audiences.
Receive additional support with your statistical analysis, including calculations, data modelling, normalisation and selecting appropriate methods.
You’ll also review your findings and strengthen your ability to explain what the statistics mean within a wider business context.
This is a support clinic rather than an additional teaching module.
Review and refine your dashboards and data visualisations with additional trainer support. You’ll consider their clarity, accessibility and suitability for different audiences and receive feedback to help strengthen your work.
This is a support clinic rather than an additional teaching module.
Bring together your statistical analysis and data visualisation skills, exploring how analysis can be transformed into meaningful visual insights.
You’ll also review your overall progress, identify any outstanding work and prepare for the final stage of the programme.
This is a consolidation and support session rather than an additional teaching module.
Develop the skills to communicate data and findings clearly to different audiences. You’ll explore written, verbal and non-verbal communication, storyboarding, technical documentation, presentations and summarising findings for both technical and non-technical audiences.
You’ll also develop communication skills including active listening and effective questioning.
Explore how data professionals collaborate effectively and continue developing throughout their careers.
You’ll consider digital transformation, multidisciplinary teams, stakeholder relationships, reliable sources of knowledge, skills gaps, project prioritisation and time management, while developing your own Continuing Professional Development plan.
Refine your presentation and communication work with targeted trainer support. You’ll have an opportunity to practise your presentation, review your technical documentation and receive feedback on how effectively you’ve tailored your communication to the intended audience.
This is a support clinic rather than an additional teaching module.
Complete your final programme review with support covering areas including digital transformation, CPD, teamwork and project prioritisation.
You’ll also review your progress across the qualification, check that your required portfolio evidence is complete and work towards final sign-off and completion.
This is the final support and close-out session rather than an additional teaching module.
To qualify for this funded programme, you must meet the following criteria.
Begin your application today and a member of our team will be in touch to guide you through the next steps. No commitment is required at this stage.
Yes. The programme is available fully funded for eligible learners through the Free Courses for Jobs funding offer.
Funding is subject to an eligibility assessment, and you will be required to provide supporting evidence as part of the application process. Your place and funding cannot be confirmed until the relevant eligibility checks have been completed.
Applicants must generally earn less than £26,800 per year or be unemployed.
There is an exception for learners aged 19–23 who have not previously achieved a full Level 3 qualification. Subject to the applicable funding eligibility rules, these learners may be eligible even if they earn above the £26,800 earnings threshold.
Evidence will be required to confirm your eligibility, and your individual circumstances will be assessed during the application process.
Yes. Applicants must have a home postcode within the Surrey Devolved Area.
Your postcode will be checked as part of the eligibility assessment, and supporting evidence will be required during the application process.
Applicants must have ordinarily been resident in the UK and/or meet the relevant residency criteria for the required period before starting the programme, generally three years.
You must also have sufficient residency status to complete the programme. This means your residency status must extend beyond the expected programme completion date.
You will be required to provide supporting evidence so that Fareport Training can check that the relevant residency requirements have been met.
Supporting evidence will be required as part of your application.
The evidence will be used to check that you meet the relevant funding requirements, including applicable residency and eligibility criteria.
The exact evidence required may vary depending on your individual circumstances. Fareport Training will confirm which documents and information you need to provide during the application process.
Funding cannot be confirmed until the required eligibility checks and supporting evidence have been completed and assessed.
No. Meeting the headline criteria does not automatically guarantee funding.
Funding eligibility is subject to assessment, and supporting evidence will be required as part of the application process.
Fareport Training will review your circumstances, residency requirements and the relevant supporting evidence before confirming your eligibility for funding.
After you apply, Fareport Training will assess whether you meet the eligibility requirements for the programme and available funding.
As part of this process, you will be asked to provide supporting evidence so that the relevant eligibility and residency checks can be completed.
Once the required information and evidence have been received and assessed, the team will be able to confirm your funding eligibility.
Yes. If you’re unsure whether you meet the requirements, you can submit an application and allow the Fareport Training team to assess your circumstances.
There are different eligibility rules that may need to be considered depending on your circumstances.
You will need to provide supporting evidence as part of this assessment, and eligibility will only be confirmed once the relevant checks have been completed.
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This will support my development with using Excel. It will definitely help me for sure but I need to look at the data that I use and put it into practice to help me understand fully.
I thought the data visualisation section was brilliant, was really helpful in terms of working through a scenario together, some really helpful tips. I really enjoyed it, I struggled a bit initially with the data types/types of data but more about me than the training!
The session was very good and informative and helped me understand the data types and some of the basics around how to interpret data. It has definitely given me some knowledge to go away and look at how it can help with datasets we currently use.
It only takes 2 minutes! Our Enrolment team will then be in touch to answer any questions and tell you the next steps.
