Te Wānanga o Aotearoa was founded in 1983 to provide training and education for those whose needs were not being met by the mainstream education system. The genesis of what would become Te Wānanga o Aotearoa emerged as the brainchild of Te Awamutu College board of governors' member Rongo Wetere and Māori Studies teacher Iwi Kohuru (Boy) Mangu. The two men wanted to provide a ‘marae of learning' as an educational alternative for the large number of predominantly Māori students being expelled from Te Awamutu College.