This paper explores the teaching and learning of issues concerning waste, waste management and recycling in lower-secondary school as part of the broader aim of an education for green transition. Building on the claim that the notion of quality teaching is a combination of both successful and good teaching (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005) the question of the paper is how it is possible to balance these two when the topic of the lesson is waste. The paper discusses how teachers face dilemmas of creating interesting lessons about green transition and ‘green values’ on the one hand and supporting the formation of students’ ‘green behaviors’ or ‘green habits’ on the other hand. Analyzing and interpreting narratives from practicing teachers it is shown, how different school conditions are experienced as both enabling and constraining for the development of a ‘waste education’ (Jørgensen, Madsen & Læssøe, 2018). This is followed by a discussion of Dewey’s theory of interest (Dewey, 1913; Jonas, 2011) and theory of habit (Dewey, 1922; Tryggvason, Sund & Öhman, 2022) and their significance for understanding education for green transition in general and waste education in lower-secondary school in particular.

Dewey, J. (1913). Interest and Effort in Education. Houghton Mifflin. Dewey, J. (1922). Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology. Henry Holt. Fenstermacher, G.D. & Richardson, V. (2005). On Making Determinations of Quality in Teaching. Teachers College Record, 107 (1), 186-213. Jonas, M.E. (2011). Dewey’s Conception of Interest and its Significance for Teacher Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43 (2), 112-129. Jørgensen, N.J., Madsen, K.D. & Læssøe, J. (2018). Waste in education: the potential of materiality and practice. Environmental Education Research, 24, 6, 807-817. Tryggvason, A., Sund, L. & Öhman, J. (2022). Schooling and ESE: revisiting Stevenson’s gap from a pragmatist perspective. Environmental Education Research, 28 (8), 1237-1250.