"An overview of contemporary curriculum discourse shows a worrying drift to the technical; in current curriculum debates, technique is winning out over substance, procedure over principles" (Looney 2001, p.149). As a project worker in the School Completion Programme in Ireland I ask what and who education is for and look at to whom and to what end current policy and practice benefit and where School Completion Programme fits into the debate. To counter the current trend of curriculum debates drifting to the technical, the development of a curriculum conscience is explored as well as offering Freirean type "limit acts" in negating and overcoming, rather than passively accepting the given.