UPDATED 3.58pm: Sport New Zealand is encouraging schools to update the physical education on offer to students.

LISTEN ABOVE: AFL New Zealand CEO Robert Vanstam speaks to Andrew Dickens about sport in schools

It's released a 'plan of attack' for keeping young New Zealanders active after spending the last 18 months talking to youth and finding out what gets them out and about.

GM of Community Sport Geoff Barry said it shows youth are becoming less active, and changes need to be made in the way sport is presented.

"It might be delivering something that's not currently being delivered to them that they want to try because they've seen it on TV, or they've seen an app, or they've seen on YouTube that you can do parkour today, but not many school teachers in New Zealand know anything about parkour."

Mr Barry said traditional barriers such as bad sideline parenting came up in discussion, but so too did some fresh issues.

"Definitely time is a barrier for many kids because they're working on Saturdays or they're looking after extended family in the weekends and those sorts of things. Cost is a barrier for a good number of young kids these days."

AFL New Zealand CEO Robert Vanstam said that the key factor in delivering sport programmes in schools was that the teaching was sound. 

"Regardless of what product you've got to showcase, it has to be interesting, and it has to be presented in a way that kids show that interest.

"You can have the world's greatest sport, but if it's delivered by people with expertise in it, or don't have a background in connecting with kids, then that's a real issue."