<p>Flexible learning options (FLOs) that provide access to secondary education for marginalised students tend to sit on the margins of education systems, resulting in pressure to account for their outcomes. This paper employs a conceptual framework based on possible selves theory applied to interview data with students and staff from eight Australian FLOs. Students’ past selves were strongly shaped by adversity in their social environments and in their prior school experiences. Based on these past selves, students’ imagined possible selves included feared possible selves, which were considered to be likely outcomes if the FLO had not existed. In contrast, FLOs helped students to develop positive present selves as well as imagine, and work towards, hoped-for possible selves, especially in terms of education and employment. Tracing the trajectory from past to present and future possible selves provides a fruitful alternative lens for assessing outcomes from FLOs.</p>