Live lessons are teachers’ favourite way to deliver remote learning during lockdown, new findings suggest.

Asked what type of remote education they found to be most effective, nearly two in five teachers responding to a Tes survey pointed to live lessons carried out by teachers or other staff.

The method was the most popular by far, proving the preferred choice for 39 per cent of teachers, while less than one in five (19 per cent) were partial to pre-recorded lessons.

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The findings, based on responses from more than 7,000 school staff received between 22 and 26 January, also found that 19 per cent of teachers said they preferred setting work to be uploaded to a digital platform in pupils’ own time, while 4 per cent said they found pre-recorded lessons via a different platform, such as Oak National Academy, most effective.

Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of teachers said 100 per cent of their remote teaching consisted of live lessons.

Just 18 per cent said they held no live lessons at all, with nearly half (49 per cent) saying they used the method for at least 50 per cent of their teaching.

Many teachers said they preferred live lessons because they were more engaging and helped them connect with their pupils.

A secondary school teacher commented: “We have always taught live lessons - I feel these are the best, as you can still speak to some students and try to encourage them. Live teaching is the next best thing to being in the classroom.”

A primary school teacher said: “It’s lovely to see the children, too, and interact with them.”

And another secondary teacher said: “Engagement and attendance is so much better when the students have live lessons and follow a regular routine.”

However they stressed that “it is very hard for the teachers to be constantly online”.

While the survey results suggest a fairly convincing preference for live lessons among teachers, the method has previously divided some of the most senior figures in the education world.

Last month, education secretary Gavin Williamson said that live remote lessons were the “best” form of teaching during the lockdown, putting him in direct opposition to the view held by schools’ inspectorate Ofsted.

Mr Williamson was answering MPs’ questions in the House of Commons when he said: “What we do want to see and we do want to encourage is as much live teaching as possible, which [is] shown to be the best way in terms of delivering teaching.”

But the previous week Ofsted’s research head, Professor Daniel Muijs, had said it was an “unhelpful myth” that live lessons were the best way to deliver remote education.