ABSTRACT

Elisabeth, Andreani. 2024. The Challenges of English Teachers on the Implementation Merdeka Curriculum in SMAN 2 Banjarmasin. Sarjana’sThesis, English Department, Faculty of Teaching Training and Education, Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin. The first advisor: Dr. Hj. Noor Eka Chandra, M.Pd., the second advisor: Fahmi Hidayat, M.Pd

Keywords: Challenges, English teachers, Merdekacurriculum.

The Merdeka Curriculum was launched by the Minister of Education and Culture, Research and Technology, Nadiem Makarim, for the first time in 2021 to understand and change the education perspective in Indonesia. With these changes, implementing the Merdeka Curriculum in Indonesia is still a challenge for English teachers. The research aimed to discover English teachers' challenges in implementing the Merdeka Curriculum.

This research used a descriptive qualitative method. The subjects were three English teachers at SMAN 2 Banjarmasin. The instruments of this research were interviews and documentation. There are 19 questions in the interview. While in documentation, the researcher collected data from three English teachers such as Capaian Pembelajaran (CP), Alur Tujuan Pembelajaran (ATP), Modul Ajar, and Buku Ajar and pictures during the research.

The findings of the research show that English teachers face two main challenges. They were the internal challenges originating from the teachers and the external challenges. Internal challenges that come from teachers such as the first is teachers having challenges in developing learning outcomes into the flow of learning objectives, the second is choosing authentic texts by native speakers, and the third is increasing understanding related to insight and knowledge related to student learning methods in Merdeka Curriculum.The external challenges that teachers face include the first is students' challenges in using technology wisely, the second is students often say they are tired because of the projects and assignments that must be completed, and the last is the challenge of students' lack of interest in learning. The findings of this study will be a reference or inspiration for other researchers who conduct further research on the challenges of implementation of the Merdeka Curriculum. Furthermore, it can be used as an alternative source for future researchers to obtain better and more accurate results.