Unveiling the Hidden Struggles: Waste Management Practices of Pre-Service Teachers

Purpose This qualitative case study explores the lived experiences, challenges, and perceptions of pre-service teachers in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, regarding waste management implementation and environmental education integration in their future classrooms. Methodology Data were collected from seven fourth-year pre-service teachers enrolled at a state university in the Philippines using semi-structured key informant interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify patterns and themes in the participants’ narratives. Findings Pre-service teachers face five major experiential challenges: student behavioral resistance, systemic and financial gaps (including lack of trash bins, funding, and Local Government Unit (LGU) support), role model implementation struggles, pedagogical and practical difficulties (insufficient cleaning tools and classroom management issues), and exposure to environmental hazards such as flooding and marine pollution. Despite these barriers, participants demonstrated strong moral responsibility and positive perceptions toward waste management, which influenced their teaching intentions through five attitudinal themes: core responsibility and moral drivers, strategic teaching intentions (hands-on learning, creative recycling, positive incentives), enforcement and discipline intent, value of practical utility (income generation from recycling), and professional ethos as advocates and role models. Implications Strengthening institutional support, integrating habit-building ecological practices into teacher-training curricula, developing localized environmental education modules, and fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration among universities, local governments, and environmental agencies are essential to empower pre-service teachers as effective environmental educators in low-resource coastal communities.