Is there a regulated Level 2 data analysis qualification you can study online?
Yes. The NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Data Analysis is an Ofqual regulated qualification, and this school delivers it entirely online. There are no entry requirements and no examination. You build a portfolio of evidence, which is marked here and quality assured by NCFE.
The qualifications, as the records hold them
NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Data Analysis
- Qualification number
- 603/3916/0
- Level
- Level 2
- Size and study
- 120 guided learning hours, 135 total qualification time; self-paced online study
- Minimum age
- 16
- Pace
- Self-paced. Start any day, no fixed class times.
- Fee
- £395
The units, as the specification titles them
It is a beginner qualification in the ordinary sense of the word. The specification sets no prior learning requirement. It notes that a learner may find an Entry Level 3 qualification in maths and in ICT helpful, and that is a note rather than a condition.
What you need is practical rather than academic: a digital device, internet access, and spreadsheet software for the practical units. Excel, Google Sheets and OpenOffice all qualify, and the last of those is free.
The units run from what data is through to presenting it to somebody who has to act on it. They are listed below as the specification titles them, because a unit list rewritten into marketing language is no longer checkable against the specification.
What is also true
Other approved centres deliver this same qualification, some of them free to learners who meet the conditions of a government funded scheme. This school holds no funding agreement, so its courses are not free. If you qualify for a funded place elsewhere, take it. What you should compare is the qualification number, not the course title, because the title varies between centres and the number does not.
Where the specification says this leads:
NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Data Analysis. Progression: prepares you for our Level 3 Certificate in Data, and for junior data analyst and reporting roles. This qualification does not carry UCAS Tariff points.
Those are the specifications' own progression statements. Whether any employer or university accepts a qualification is always that organisation's decision, never the school's.
Check this rather than believe it
Take any qualification number on this page and look it up on the Ofqual register at register.ofqual.gov.uk. Confirm the number is live and that the awarding organisation is the one you were told. Then ask the provider, this one included, to confirm it holds approved centre status for that specific qualification, because approval is granted qualification by qualification and not to an organisation in general. There is a checker for the number format at check a qualification.