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Indigenous Māori adolescents in New Zealand are more excluded from mainstream secondary education than other ethnicities. Neo-liberal educational policies have made educational access challenging for marginalised students. By contrast, alternative education is grossly underfunded and under-resourced, catering to disengaged Māori youth; 70% identified as Māori. Dismantling a racially unjust education system for marginalised Māori adolescents requires systemic transformation. This paper canvases PhD findings about Māori adolescents (15-17 years) excluded from the mainstream and classified as serious youth offenders. Grounded in critical and kaupapa Māori theories, the findings suggest that liminal spaces present opportunities to influence disengaged Māori adolescents. This paper proposes an ‘Alter-Native’ educational model centred on the liminal, and indigenous-inspired pathways to remove systemic barriers and counter ruinous narratives.