I couldn't agree more with the other comment. Nuance and context is often 'lost' these days.
Also, the kids (and teachers) had just suffered two years of stop start schooling and chasing rapidly moving goalposts. I'd have welcomed that kind of compassionate approach from any and all teaching staff ❤️

This is a difficult and layered situation, and I think it deserves more than a simple good/bad judgment.
What happened clearly breached exam regulations, and that matters. Fairness, trust, and safeguarding standards exist for a reason, especially in national assessments. That can be acknowledged without minimising the seriousness of the ruling.

But it’s also worth holding a wider truth at the same time.
Art, by its very nature, does not live comfortably inside rigid time constraints. Creativity isn’t linear, nor is it easily summoned on demand. Many artists, including professional ones, create when they feel regulated, ready, and able to express, not when a clock dictates it. For students who already struggle with pressure, neurodiversity, anxiety, or confidence, time limits can shut down creativity rather than measure it.
Reading the many comments here, it’s clear this teacher was widely experienced as kind, supportive, and deeply invested in her students, particularly those who didn’t fit neatly into the academic mould. That doesn’t excuse rule-breaking, but it does matter when we talk about intent and humanity.
Our education system often places policies above people, outcomes above wellbeing, and compliance above care. Sometimes, when someone leads with heart inside a rigid system, the head doesn’t always keep pace, and unwise decisions are made, not out of malice, but out of compassion that isn’t supported by the structure around them.
This situation raises bigger questions we rarely want to sit with:
What are we really assessing in creative subjects?
What happens when passion is timed, policed, and constrained?
And how many teachers are stretched beyond capacity, holding impossible workloads, while trying to protect the children in front of them?
Accountability matters. But so does context. And so does remembering that behind every headline is a human being, and behind many ‘failures’ in education are systems that leave both teachers and students without enough space to breathe.
I hope we can hold all of that, not just one side. 🩷