“The world’s in crisis… and us?” Teacher training in a collectivist society during the COVID-19

This study examined the narratives of young ultra-Orthodox teacher trainees during the COVID-19 crisis. The education system constitutes one of the central elements of this collectivist society, as it is responsible for socializing children to uphold and perpetuate the norms of the community. This longitudinal qualitative study investigated the changes that unfolded in this community in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as experienced by the teaching trainees and those who trained them. The findings revealed that the outbreak of the epidemic was experienced as a turning point. The narratives of the young trainees pointed to a positive experience. They learned to be flexible and think independently without relying on rules and structures. They experienced personal choice, representing a departure from their formerly uniform framework of a consensus, yet still characterized by a collectivist sense of mission and adherence to community norms. However, the discourse of the older generation—those who trained them—was characterized by anxiety in terms of responsibility toward community institutions and routine. While teacher training institutions experienced a period of a crossroads and faced questions of both training methods and challenges to their identities, the crisis created opportunities for change and transformation in the society’s structures. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.