MPs have been warned children are losing interest in school because their teachers do not know how to use new technology in their lessons.
Parliament's Education and Science select committee was told on Wednesday that schools need more support to make the most of new technologies.
The commitee is investigating 21st century learning environments and digital literacy and the preparedness of teachers has been a focus of many submissions.
Secondary school teacher Sue Parkes told MPs that teachers were waiting to be told what to do, but in the meantime, children were disengaging from school.
"Teachers are just sitting there waiting for it to be spoon fed. They actually need to take ownership of their learning and realise Facebook isn't dangerous. It is actually a good learning tool.
There are other ways of teaching kids and they want to be engaged, and we are disengaging these kids and I find it really sad as a parent, as a teacher and as a Kiwi."
She said schools were letting children down by not preparing them for life in the 21st century.
Other submitters said the move to new forms of learning would be chaotic unless the Government provided schools with more direction.
They said school leaders and trustees often knew little about digital learning.
