A female PE teacher accused of having sex with a 16-year-old pupil told a court she was not a very good teacher but wanted to be popular with those she taught.
Bronwen James said she was 'immature' when she became a teacher around the age of 21 and was 'very lenient' with pupils, allowing them to use their mobile phones and listen to music during lessons.
She said she also took it as a compliment when those in her classes said they would rather be taught by her than other teachers.
James, now 30, is on trial accused of four counts of sexual activity with the teenager, which she denies.
She is said to have taken the pupil, who attended Bitterne Park School in Southampton, Hampshire, where James taught PE, to her home for sex after organising meetings on Snapchat.
He said they had sex at her house while they watched Wimbledon and she asked him to call her 'Miss'.
Bronwen James was teaching PE at Bitterne Park School in Southampton, Hampshire, at the time of the alleged offences
James, 30, pictured arriving at court on an earlier occasion. She denies the charges
James claims the boy was 'put up' to make the allegations by another pupil. Giving evidence on Monday, she said she did not think she was ready to teach when she first started.
'I was still quite immature. Although I loved the subject, maybe I wasn't there to teach the students,' she told the court.
'I just don't think I was ready for it. I was there to teach the students but as my career progressed I realised I was seeking validation from the wrong people due to my level of teaching.'
She later admitted that she was 'immature' but said she did not realise at the time. She also said that she did not think that she was a good teacher. She continued: 'I was a very lenient teacher. I wasn't strict. There were behaviour protocols that weren't necessarily followed such as using mobile phone in lessons.'
James said that she taught a coursework-based diploma to Year 10 and Year 11 pupils and would allow them to listen to music on their phones if it helped them work.
She said: 'I didn't want to upset them. I didn't want to anger them. I wanted them to do their work.'
She admitted that being popular with the students was important to her. When she was asked if pupils liked being in her lessons, she said: 'Yes I think it happened quite frequently.
'I think I took it as a compliment. If a student was to realise that they had me as a teacher they would get excited. They would say can we be with Miss James rather than the other teacher. It felt like a compliment to me.'
Jurors were told an investigation was launched into James's relationship with the boy after a screenshot was sent into a group chat of 30-40 pupils showing messages between them. James then had a meeting with the school's head.
The court heard James initially told the police that the teenager had been to her address once but never inside her home or car. However, she later accepted she had once dropped him home.
Francesca Mason, the officer in the case, said analysis of her phone showed there no evidence on Snapchat communication between James and the alleged victim.
She also said that no references to the 'Number 8' were found when a key word search was done.
Prosecutors say James, from Chippenham, Wiltshire, named the boy 'Number 8' in her phonebook as a 'cover', suggesting he was 'the eighth man or boy she had slept with'.
The court also heard that James 'received a written warning for exchanging text messages' from her previous school, Seaford College, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
Seaford College is a £54,000-per-year boarding school in West Sussex.
The boy cannot be named for legal reasons. The trial continues.