Faith, entrepreneurship and emotional resilience: supervisory leadership in religious schools during wartime

Purpose This study explores how school-based supervisors in Israel's religious schools exercised leadership during the 2023–2025 Swords of Iron War. It investigates how supervision functioned as a stabilizing, trauma-sensitive, and innovation-driven practice that integrated faith-based values with pedagogical and emotional support. The research examines how the frameworks of trauma-informed leadership (TIL) and teacher entrepreneurial behaviour (TEB) intersect in supervisory roles to sustain resilience, continuity, and moral purpose under crisis conditions. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative design, the study draws on 24 interviews and 38 open-ended questionnaires collected from religious school supervisors between December 2023 and June 2025. Data were analyzed through thematic analysis, applying purposive intensity sampling and negotiated consensus validation. Thematic interpretation focused on supervisors' reflections regarding emotional resilience, pedagogical innovation, and faith-based leadership during wartime. Findings Four interrelated themes emerged: (1) bearing the weight of faith and leadership amid trauma, (2) encouraging teacher innovation in national emergency contexts, (3) fostering spiritually anchored leadership, and (4) leading integrative pedagogy that merges healing with instruction. Supervisors acted simultaneously as trauma-sensitive mentors and entrepreneurial innovators, transforming distress into adaptive practices that preserved community trust, moral meaning, and educational continuity. Research limitations/implications The study focused on a specific context—religious schools in Israel during the Swords of Iron War—which may limit generalizability to secular or non-conflict settings. Data were self-reported and gathered during a time of ongoing disruption, which may affect recall. Nevertheless, the study offers theoretical implications for applying TIL and TEB frameworks in future crisis research. Further longitudinal and comparative studies are needed to assess the long-term impact of supervisory practices on teacher retention, well-being, and student outcomes in diverse cultural and geopolitical contexts. Practical implications The findings suggest that leadership development programs should integrate trauma-informed and entrepreneurial principles to prepare supervisors for crises. Supervisors require tools to lead emotionally, spiritually, and pedagogically, particularly in culturally sensitive and faith-based environments. Institutions should provide mental health support, flexible professional development frameworks, and mechanisms for teacher collaboration and innovation. The study offers actionable models for building supervisor capacity in contexts of instability—emphasizing relational trust, moral clarity, and creative problem-solving as essential leadership traits during emergencies. Social implications Supervisory leadership during wartime extended beyond schools, reinforcing community bonds, civic responsibility, and spiritual resilience. Supervisors mobilized teachers as community leaders, promoting inclusive educational practices and emotional care. These findings underscore the potential of educational leadership to address broader social trauma, cultivate civic agency, and reinforce cultural identity in crisis. In faith-based settings, supervisory innovation became a form of social healing. The study highlights the school as a critical site of societal resilience, particularly for marginalized or religious communities coping with national disruption. Originality/value The study introduces the concept of trauma-sensitive entrepreneurship (TSE), a hybrid model merging the stabilizing functions of TIL with the adaptive functions of TEB. By situating this model in a faith-based wartime context, the study expands international scholarship on educational leadership in crisis, demonstrating that resilience in education is an ongoing ethical and communal process bridging healing and innovation.