PROBLEMATICS OF TEACHERS IN APPLYING THE MERDEKA KURIKULUM AT MTS Al-Kautsar
By:
Lukas Herianto1, Najmah2, Santi Maharani3, Sumardi4, Marhamah5
 {lukasherlianto@uir.ac.id11, najmah@uir.ac.id2, santimaharani@uir.ac.id3, sumardi@uir.ac.id4, marhamah@edu.uir.ac.id5}
1234Universitas Islam Riau
ABSTRACT
The problem in this study is about the teacher's problems in implementing the Merdeka Curriculum at MTS Al-Kautsar Bencah Lesung Subdistrict, Sail Village, Pekanbaru Riau. This study aims to determine what are the problems of teachers in implementing the Merdeka curriculum at MTS Al-Kautsar Bencah Lesung, Kel Sail, Pekanbaru Riau. This research uses qualitative methods. The data collection techniques used are observation, interviews, and documentation. As for analyzing data using data reduction, data presentation, and verification. From the results of the study, it shows that the teacher in implementing the Merdeka curriculum has not been maximized. The lack of maximization of the implementation of the Merdeka curriculum is due to teachers who do not understand the existence of the Merdeka curriculum, of the 61 teachers interviewed, it was found that some teachers had problems due to the teacher's unpreparedness in implementing the independent curriculum, as well as the lack of support from people and society, especially from parents of students.
Keywords: Problematics, Implementation of Independent Curriculum
INTRODUCTION
The curriculum is one of the elements of educational resources that makes a significant contribution to realizing the process of developing the quality of students' potential. National education is currently required to adjust to the development of the 4.0 revolution. Human Resources (HR) in Indonesia need to be improved. This is intended so that in the future it has an increasingly advanced quality of human resources. With the advancement of technology that is growing rapidly at this time, it is also expected that Indonesian education will experience changes. Quality education is something very valuable and a must, because education plays a very fundamental role in which the ideals of the nation and state can be achieved (Baro'ah, 2020). With the current globalization and advances in information and technology, education will be increasingly faced with various challenges and problems. Therefore, development in the education sector needs to be designed as well as possible so that various challenges and problems can be overcome. The government also continues to strive to improve the quality or quality of education in following the process of changing times.
The Indonesian education system, which has been built from the past until now, has not been able to fully answer the needs and global challenges for the future. Mapping programs and improving the quality of education are still a prominent problem in the world of education in Indonesia today. Based on the results of UN development (UNDP) in 2000, the quality of Indonesian human resources ranks 109th out of 174 countries. With such problems, efforts to build quality human resources that are highly competitive, knowledgeable in science and technology, and moral and cultured must be carried out. One of them is by updating the curriculum. The curriculum has a very important position in education. With this curriculum, it can be a way or reference to organize and direct so that educational goals can be achieved and not deviate from the planned goals. In the era of the 4.0 revolution that is developing today, the minister of education Mr. Nadiem Makarim has made a new policy, namely "Merdeka Belajar". With the independent learning policy, it is hoped that it can improve the quality of human resources and efforts to improve the national education system that is ready for the challenges of the times. The independent curriculum implemented at this time is also an effort by the Ministry of Education and Culture to overcome the learning crisis that has long been faced due to the pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic that occurred affected the learning crisis which was characterized by low student learning outcomes and low student learning quality. The curriculum is very influential on the course of education that is implemented. If a curriculum is well designed and supported by adequate facilities and infrastructure, it will encourage and make it easier for teachers to teach and students will find it easier to go through it, and the quality of teachers and students will improve. The purpose of the independent curriculum is not only to catch up with learning due to the pandemic, but also so that education in Indonesia can be like developed countries, where students have the freedom to choose according to what they are interested in. With this, the purpose of this article is to provide information about the independent learning curriculum that is implemented as an effort to restore learning in Indonesia today and how the concept of the independent learning curriculum and its implementation.
