The vast majority of parents think that schools should dedicate more time to physical education (PE), a new survey has found.

According to the findings, 91% of parents think schools should devote more time to PE, while 82% would like to see a minimum of 30 minutes per day assigned to PE within the school curriculum.

The survey of over 1,000 mothers found that 77% of parents underestimated the amount of daily physical activity their child should be getting, while 73% felt that their children were not participating in enough physical activity each day.

A child is recommended to get at least 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity every day. However two hours per week was the average amount of ‘out of school' exercise children were getting, according to their parents.

Among parents who wanted their children to get involved with more structured exercise outside of school, cost was the biggest barrier.

The survey was commissioned on behalf of MummyPages.ie, which has launched an online petition to put pressure on the Government to invest more in PE within the school curriculum.

The petition is asking for 30 minutes of structured PE every day, instead of every week, which is currently the case in many schools. The petition can be signed here