The Great Careers Program
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 systems thinker working at the intersection of school design and student 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.
The Great Careers Program
Series 1 Trailer
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We called the podcast The Great Careers Program. Which raises an obvious question: are we saying schools should stop buying careers programs?
No. Not even close.
In this short trailer, Marian and Liv address the tension head on. Yes, Liv is the co-founder and CEO of a careers program. Yes, they called the podcast the thing that doesn't exist. Here is what they actually mean by that, and why it matters for every school who cares about the futures of their students.
Get in touch
Find us on Instagram @thegreatcareersprogram and on Substack at thegreatcareersprogram.substack.com for episode recaps, research links, and the conversation between episodes. Got a question, a story, or something you want us to talk about? Email us at hi@thegreatcareersprogram.com.
Credits
The Great Careers Program is a collaboration between BECOME Education and Coherence Co-Lab, and is hosted and produced by Liv Pennie and Marian Wright, with production support from Bev Laing. Music by Chad Crouch.
You know that great careers programme your school's been searching for? The one that's gonna set your students up for their future, give them a real sense of direction, and maybe even solve your engagement problems, well-being issues, and curriculum relevance challenges. All in one day. Does that exist?
SPEAKER_00No, it doesn't. But that's why we made this show. I'm Marion Wright. I'm Left Penny. And between the both of us, we have spent over 20 years in and around schools in the student future space. And the one thing we keep seeing is that that one great careers program, the silver bullet, it's not something you buy off a shelf, plug in, and then watch the impact roll in. A great careers program is not something you find, it's something you build. Now, Liv, this is a bit awkward because you are the co-founder and CEO of what I would call a genuinely great careers program. So are we being total hypocrites right now?
SPEAKER_01It is a fair question, and yes, Become is a careers program, and I believe it's a great one. And I know it can transform how students approach their future and how they feel about themselves in their learning right now. But here's what I know from years of working with schools to deliver it. It has the most impact when the school designs the conditions around it, and that'll be the same for every careers program. When it's not just delivered in one module by one person, but anchored in the way the whole school works. That's when you really see a shift.
SPEAKER_00So, just to be clear, are we telling schools they should stop buying careers programs?
SPEAKER_01Not at all.
SPEAKER_00Are we telling schools they should scrat what they're doing right now?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely not. There's pockets of brilliance all around.
SPEAKER_00And are we telling schools that their current careers programs don't matter?
SPEAKER_01No, no, not at all.
SPEAKER_00So what are we saying?
SPEAKER_01We're saying that a truly great careers program that really prepares students for their futures can start with programming, but it becomes truly great when it's shared across the whole school, when it's more than one person's job, when it's embedded in the architecture, the structures, the conversations, and the culture, when everything works together. That's when you see real impact, and that's what this podcast is about.
SPEAKER_00So each episode, we're gonna dig into what the evidence and data are telling us about how young people are thinking about their futures at a global level. We'll zoom into the specifics and then we'll zoom out to see what this means for your school at a system level, but also on the front line. You're going to hear stories from people who are doing this work differently. We're gonna make it fun, and above all, we're gonna make it optimistic because both of us are genuinely optimistic about the futures of young people and the part that school plays in school.
SPEAKER_01This is the Great Careers program.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for being here.
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