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The Great Careers Program

The Great Careers Program

By: Liv Pennie and Marian Wright
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Summary

You know that one great careers program your school has been searching for? The one that will prepare your students for the future, solve your engagement problems and finally show students there's a point to all this learning they're doing?


That one single solution was never going to come in a box. It can't be handed to one person, and it definitely isn't something that starts in Year 10. A great careers program is not something you find on a shelf. It is something you build into the conditions and architecture of the way you do schooling.


Marian Wright is a strategist systems thinker working at the intersection of school design and futures through Coherence Co-Lab. Liv Pennie is the CEO and Co-Founder of BECOME Education and genuinely optimistic about what young people are capable of when schools design the right conditions. Each episode they tackle one big question, dig into the evidence, and leave you with something you can actually use.


This is a show for the entire school staff room. Because preparing young people for their futures was never just one person's job.

© 2026 The Great Careers Program
Episodes
  • An introduction: Who are we and what is this show all about?

    An introduction: Who are we and what is this show all about?
    May 13 2026

    What is the great careers program? And does it actually exist? In this intro episode, Marian and Liv answer the questions you probably have before you commit to a new podcast. What is this show about, who is it for, and why are two people who come at career education from completely different angles doing it together?

    In this episode, they cover:

    What the name actually means and why it is a little bit cheeky. The argument that career education is not one person's job and never was. What a great career actually looks like — and why the answer is more personal and more complex than most schools treat it. Who should be listening (hint: not just the careers lead). Plus surprise questions for each other including what percentage of school leaders switched off the moment they saw the word careers in the title (Marian's answer: around 60%), what a great career actually is, and what they would both do if they were not doing this.

    Coming up in this series of The Great Careers Program

    Whose choice is it anyway? Are students really making their own decisions about their futures? AI and student futures: how do we use it for good? What is actually happening to entry level jobs? Beyond curriculum: what schools can do structurally and systemically. Future chaos: how to build hope and optimism through best practice careers education.

    Find us

    Search The Great Careers Program on your favourite podcast app and follow so you get notified when new episodes drop. Find us on Substack for episode recaps, research links, and the conversation between episodes. Got a question or a story to share? Email us at hi@thegreatcareersprogram.com.

    About the hosts

    Marian Wright is the founder of Coherence Co-Lab, working with school systems on the gap between intent and implementation. Liv Pennie is the CEO of BECOME Education, a careers education program working with schools across Australia.

    References and links

    Sir John Holman on the idea that there is 'no single bullet' in careers education.
    Dr Glenn Savage, Professor of Education Futures, University of Melbourne.
    JP Michel and The Challenge Mindset.
    Mike Priddis on AI and the future of work.
    Young women choosing careers - who decides? Jo Gleeson, Monash University.


    Credits

    The Great Careers Program is a collaboration between BECOME Education and Coherence Co-Lab. Hosted and produced by Liv Pennie and Marian Wright, with production support from Bev Laing. Music by Chad Crouch.
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    24 mins
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