The COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread changes in the ways teaching and learning take place under the pandemic. This has affected more significantly pre-service teachers, as they did not have the opportunity to experience their practicum period in a 'normal' context. Therefore, the aims of this paper are: (1) to explore how pre-service teachers experienced a period of uncertainty in teaching as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic; and (2) to explore how pre-service teachers imagined the teaching profession and the challenges they faced related to the pandemic. Results show that pre-service teachers believed that the educational relationship between teachers, the students and the subject is built through a personal relationship between teachers, students and the content to be taught. Results also demonstrate that the pandemic made it difficult for pre-service teachers to approach students and content, and create spaces of mutual trust between teacher and students.