Joy Ballard defended her conduct on Tuesday as her Teaching Regulation Agency hearing resumed after a panel ruled the former Isle of Wight headteacher may have brought the profession into disrepute. She appeared after the panel had already found allegations against her proven the previous day.

Ballard had earlier waived her right to give oral evidence and instead submitted a 13-page mitigation statement. The case turns on conduct she has already admitted, including taking the school car to France and changing term dates to fit in her holiday, and it now moves to the question of what the regulator will do with those findings.

That question matters because the panel said some of her conduct amounted to misconduct of a serious nature and fell short of the standards expected of the profession. It is the kind of finding that can end a career in school leadership, especially for a former headteacher whose standing depends on trust as much as competence.

Ballard did not step away from the substance of the case. She said she accepted the panel's decision, but not the finding about changing the inset days, telling the hearing the dates were still in draft and had not been sent to parents. She said that while she did go on a cruise, she did not intentionally change the dates to accommodate it.

She also drew a line between parts of her conduct. Ballard said she accepted only “partially” that her actions were dishonest and lacked integrity, and only “partially” that her conduct was serious, adding that it was different when it was “three people against one.” She said the school car was insured and admitted using it for a holiday in France was a stupid decision. “I reflect upon that every day how stupid it was,” she said.

The friction in her evidence was plain: she accepted the outcome, but not every finding that led to it, and she said she would do some of it again. That leaves the regulator with a confirmed set of allegations and a witness who is not retreating entirely from her own account, even as she concedes parts of it were wrong.

Ballard is a former Ryde Academy headteacher, and the disciplinary case against her has now reached the stage where the Teaching Regulation Agency must decide what sanction, if any, follows. She is also an award-winning former Isle of Wight headteacher who grew up in Southampton and appeared on the TV show Educating Cardiff, but today the focus is narrower: whether the proven conduct is enough to finish her professional life in teaching.