This research shed light on critical moments from previous education and schooling experiences of rangatahi in Alternative Education (AE). This central research aim was couched in a broader methodological research remit to understand how teachers in AE could work with rangatahi to tell their stories, and what this could mean for their teaching practice. The research also provided the AE workforce with an opportunity to bring their expertise to the fore. This research asked: (1) How can teachers inquire about critical moments from the past experiences of rangatahi in the formal education system? (2) What can schools learn from the insights gained from this inquiry to improve education experiences for vulnerable rangatahi? and (3) How can this knowledge inform teachers' planning and pedagogy? Two AE managing schools were recruited in Auckland: Mount Albert Grammar School and Green Bay High School and their respective AE consortia--Auckland City Education School and Waitakere Alternative Education Consortium. Action research was adopted as the overarching methodology. 15 stories from AE rangatahi were collected. To report on insights gained from the stories, a cyclical process of encounters with the data from each of the teachers' inquiries aided the development of individual rangatahi case studies and the analysis of themes deriving from across case studies. Across the 15 stories, the researchers found that bullying, transition, transience, and the various forms of exclusion within schools accounted for critical schooling moments. This report summarizes the key insights from each of these critical moments.