ENGLISH TEACHERS CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING KURIKULUM MERDEKA: A CASE STUDY IN CENTRAL KALIMANTAN

This study aims to examine the challenges faced by English teachers in implementing the Merdeka Curriculum in Central Kalimantan. The research method used is a qualitative method with qualitative descriptive research. Data collection was carried out through the distribution of questionnaires via Google Form in the MGMP group (Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran) and the researcher found the results of 16 respondents who had filled out the questionnaire.
Data analysis used Extracting, Coding, Generating Category, Creating Theme and Drawing Conclusions. The results of the study indicate that the challenges faced by some English teachers in Central Kalimantan focus on the complexity of administration and conceptual obstacles of the Merdeka Curriculum in aligning Learning Outcomes (CP) and Learning Objectives (TP) into a module structure only, limited time, high teaching workloads that make teachers feel stressed, differentiated learning requires teachers to teach according to student characteristics still requires adaptation, and also access to paid Merdeka Curriculum training and teacher time management at school are limited for some teachers.
The key findings in this study are that traditional challenges such as limited infrastructure and low technological literacy skills are no longer the main challenges. It can be concluded that the challenges faced by English teachers in Central Kalimantan are still felt by some teachers.