PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF EXPERIENCE AND MEANING OF

KURIKULUM MERDEKA BELAJAR AMONG PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

(please change become center, bold, use times new roman 14 font size)

Herka Maya Jatmika, Sri Winarni, Ahmad Rithaudin, Hendra Setyawan (please
change become center,use times new roman 10 font size)

Department of Physical Education, Health, and Recreation, Universitas Negeri

Yogyakarta (please change become center, times new roman 9 font size)

Corresponding Author: herka_mayajatmika@uny.ac.id (please change become

center,use font: courier new 9 font size)

Abstract
(Add study background), (add your problem statement)This phenomenological research
aims to investigate the experiences and meanings of the Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar
by physical education teachers at the vocational high school level. Four physical
education teachers agreed to participate. Open-ended interviews were used to
optimize data collection about the Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar and its meaning in
schooling. (clearly your material and methods )All recordings were transcribed verbatim
for further analysis. The research results show two themes, namely, (1) the concept
of habitus and (2) social structures. (Add describe the data statistical analisis)The
elaboration of Pierre Bourdieu's thoughts is valuable for illustrating and tracing
positioning in the Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar. The Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar praxis
is seen as social practice. (Please add future work) (please add your abstract, 200 till 250
word). (times new roman 9 font size)

Keywords: physical education teacher, Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar, professional

experience, Bourdieu (times new roman 9 font size)

INTRODUCTION (times new roman 12 font size)

(times new roman 10 font size) The Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar allows teachers
to design, develop, and execute materials in synergy with current developments [1].
The teacher's task is the noblest and the most challenging [2]. Teachers are
assigned to shape the nation's future, in this case, through the Education of students
[3]. The number of rules compared to help shackles teachers in administrative work
arrangements without clear benefits [4]. A student's potential cannot be measured
from exam results, but he is forced to write down numbers that are not meaningful
[5]. (add research gap)
The curriculum is one of the four essential components of physical education,
which is a clearly articulated written plan of how educational standards and
outcomes will be achieved [6]. Schools and the Ministry of Indonesian Education
must have a written physical education curriculum for certain levels that is sequential
and comprehensive [7]. The content should be based on national standards,
including learning objectives for students and units and lessons for the physical
education teacher to implement. The physical education curriculum should reflect
other school districts and curricula in its design and schedule for periodic
review/update. Overall, the physical education curriculum serves the purpose of
standardizing the curriculum in schools and ensuring an equitable education for all
students. This has also resulted in improved teacher quality and increased
consistency in teaching. This weakness continues to recur in Indonesia [8]. This is
clarified by the fact that many physical education teachers at various school levels
still need access to and training regarding the curriculum that has been or will even
be implemented [9]. (Please add your related research, ex: the result of related research)
Research on the curriculum is still concerned with disclosing the success of
the curriculum [10]; in this context, the Kurikulum Merdeka uses positivistic
approaches and has been presented in many forms [11]. However, this research will
seek the other perspective of the Kurikulum Merdeka from the standpoint of the
teacher experience. (Add your purpose)

METHOD(times new roman 12 font size)

(times new roman 10 font size)This research bases its principles on a qualitative
research type based on a phenomenological approach [12]. The research framework
focuses on exploring the experiences of participants in contact with the Kurikulum
Merdeka in schools and their professional environments. Anchored in Bourdieu's
thinking, two main research questions are proposed as a guide [13]. First, what does
the Kurikulum Merdeka mean? And how is the experience of teaching physical
education?
Participants in this study included four physical education teachers who had
taught for about ten years and had received training in the latest curriculum. The
researcher considers recruiting physical education teachers who teach in three
different geographic areas, namely urban, suburban, and rural areas, considering the
diversity of socio-cultural backgrounds.
According to phenomenological research data collection principles, data were
collected through semi-open in-depth interviews. The interview was conducted in two
sessions. All interview data were recorded and transcribed for analysis by keeping
the participant's name confidential, which was then replaced with a pseudonym code
agreed upon by the participant [14].
Data analysis using thematic analysis. This procedure involves reading interview
transcripts, sorting, and selecting significant statements in the form of specific codes,
grouping the codes into categories, and drawing themes from the types made [15].
Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS), in this case, Atlas.
Ti version 20 was used as a tool for computing interview transcripts.

RESULTS(times new roman 12 font size)

(times new roman 10 font size)Two themes emerged from the analysis results.
These themes are (1) the concept of habitus and (2) teaching philosophy. Both are
described in the following exposure.

Habits concept
Indonesian Ministry of Education stipulates (1) profiles of Pancasila students,
(2) learning outcomes, (3) curriculum structure, and (4) learning principles and
assessment as a curriculum that is expected to be implemented in academic units
and the classroom [7, 10]. Profil Pelajar Pancasila is a synthesis of national
education goals, the vision of education, and the development of Indonesian human
resources contained in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution, Pancasila, and the
views of the nation's founders. At the same time, the other three components are
derivatives of a more comprehensive policy, namely the National Education Goals,
which have been stipulated in Undang-Undang Nomor 20 Tahun 2003 and
translated as Pancasila student profiles and are also derivatives of the National
Education Standards, in particular Graduate Competency Standards, Content
Standards, Process Standards, and Assessment Standards. Three out of four
participants acknowledged that the Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar was the best
curriculum they had ever understood and applied. This was confirmed by a
participant named Adira, who said that "as far as I understand from the previous
curricula, there is a lot to learn, and it is very different from the previous curriculum,
namely the 2013 curriculum. Its goals are very idealistic." In line with Adira, Jaka,
another participant, explained, "if I'm not mistaken, the teacher has greater freedom
in planning and expressing what the teacher thinks." In contrast, Suparjo says, "We
as teachers have taught our students for a long time, and that has built their
character, without the need to refer to the complicated profile of Pancasila students."
One participant felt the complexity, not because of his inadequate academic
background, but rather what he had felt since teaching in 1990. (Add your chart/table
/figure)

Teaching Philosophy
Unlike the 2013 Curriculum, which regulates the number of hours of study per
week, the Kurikulum Merdeka sets a target of accumulated study hours in one year.
This is done to provide flexibility to academic units to arrange a more flexible
schedule of learning activities. For example, currently, some schools use a learning
system in semester units, but some use a quarterly and block system with different
timeframes. This description has yet to be widely understood by most of the co-
participants of this research. Tejo emphasized that "many still don't understand what
teaching physical education should be like, especially with this new curriculum; they
teach only from what they have learned before in college." Jaka even argues, "
Teachers know physical education is just fitness, as long as playing football and the
like means it's over."
A project to strengthen the profile of Pancasila students, which provides
opportunities for students to explore contemporary issues such as
environmental/global warming issues and sustainable lifestyles, diversity and
tolerance, physical and mental health including wellbeing, and so on. However,
these issues are not taught as separate subjects and add to the learning load, but as
interdisciplinary learning units, without being tied to the learning outcomes of the
topic or the material being studied in the subject. But in schools, the application is
entirely different. Teachers tend to be burdened by the Pancasila student project;
they must allocate time outside teaching hours to carry it out. The four participants
agreed that a teaching vision needed to be adequately understood, which impacted
the teaching approach in schools.

DISCUSSION
Demands for changing the mindset of educators are the entry point for
redefining the role of educators, which are formulated in seven new skills, namely:
skills in conveying ideas and coding literacy, analytical reasoning, critical thinking,
and liberal arts, communication skills and access to information, skills in the field of
information technology, management skills, planning and organizational skills for
innovation, as well as operational skills that demand coding proficiency [16]. In the
Bourdieu Concept, teachers are capital and cultural capital which should be the
prominent figures in the teaching and education hierarchy [17].
The main problem in the current post-truth era is following the hypothesis
proposed by Michiko Kakutani, namely that the education system is weak, not only in
learning basic skills but also in the logic that underlies these skills and the
strengthening of religious radicalism [18]. The author agrees with both hypotheses
and argues that the learning process needs to be stronger because critical thinking
training is neglected, especially for teachers. Weak critical thinking makes teachers
only swallow, repeat, memorize, and understand what is learned without the slightest
resistance [19]. Teachers are not accustomed to questioning the truth of a matter or
concept, namely the curriculum [4]. Teachers are not given and accustomed to
asking about the validity of a statement, let alone sharp critical reflection. Tragically,
this kind of practice is expected, so critical evaluation and providing alternative or
creative ideas (high-order thinking skills) become stagnant. This contrasts with the
independent curriculum, which provides teachers with space to explore. (Please add
your comparison data)
As presented by Bourdieu, the strategic approach emphasizes the analysis of
power relations and organizations. These social actors have a mark of freedom
which is the basis of their power [20]. The government becomes a symbol of
authority that provides a road map for the Education [21]. In contrast, the teacher
becomes a social instrument that can be optimized as a motor for change at the
school level. Social actors can only create, perpetuate, and change social structures.
On the other hand, social actors, although they are said to be free, are conditioned
by these structures. The duality dimension of actor and construction is still a powerful
[22]. (Please add your comments and justification)
It used the concept of habitus or habituation by designing policy modalities
that condition teachers to act with reason and think critically. Habitus is the result of
skills that become practical actions which are then translated into an ability that
seems natural and develops in a particular social environment [23]. In acquiring
competencies, the formed structures turn into systems that formulate new habitus.
Habitus becomes the driving force for action, thought, and representation. The
concept of habitus is undisputedly separated from the realm of struggle (champ).
The idea of the realm of effort becomes very decisive [24]. Because in a highly
differentiated society, the scope of objective relations has a uniqueness that cannot
be reduced to the connections that govern other fields. But basically, every area is
colored by Bourdieu's postulate, namely that some control and are controlled in all
societies [25]. However, this dominance highly depends on the perpetrator's
situation, resources, and strategy. In this distinction lies the basic principle of the
social organizing [26].
The global crisis in the physical education [27], which has recently become a
topic of discussion, has led to the increasing marginalization of the physical
education field in the structure of the education curriculum. Why did it happen? Does
physical education follow the needs of students? What should be reconstructed in
the physical education curriculum to respond to demands? What aspects must be
considered in developing the curriculum? How should the curriculum be designed?
What supporting factors need to be considered? The answer is the teacher's
competency and ability to acknowledge the curriculum and teaching philosophy [28].
Physical education must be one of the main instruments of the educational
curriculum. The academic curriculum must provide the broadest possible experience
for children to learn and explore and be given a balance between physical and
psychological abilities, between the left brain and the right brain. The content of the
physical education curriculum emphasizes motor mastery and the development of
personality values. The curriculum must be integrative and eclectic [29]. The physical
education curriculum must also be balanced and adequate to encourage a learning
process that can develop the child's personality, including the intellectual, physical,
emotional, spiritual, and social domains. In this regard, a back-to-basic movement is
needed to restore physical education to its proportions and to actualize the
developed learning model.
The emergence of these unfavorable perceptions causes the position of
Physical education to be entirely in a dilemma that raises more crucial problems.
One of the main problems of Physical education in Indonesia to date is the
ineffectiveness of physical education learning in schools due to an increasingly
marginalized position.
(Please add prospect and future research)
CONCLUSION
Physical education teachers address teaching challenges, especially
regarding their philosophical foundation, which guides them in teaching. The burden
of learning responsibility is more on students rather than on teachers. Habitus
creates a pattern of social cohesion between teachers according to their level. In this
context, the optimization of the Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran is only carried out
by a handful of people with a vision for future Education. The Kurikulum Merdekais
positioned as an artifact, and the teacher should be the leading actor whose
competence is continuously being comprehensively developed.

Acknowledgment
The Research Team would like to thank the Faculty of Sports and Health
Sciences, Yogyakarta State University, for facilitating the funding that has been
provided.

Conflict of Interests
There are no parties with the potential to conflict with this research.

References (please add the references min 20 article start from 2017-present)
[1] A. Pertiwi and R. Pusparini, "Vocational High School English Teachers’ Perspectives
On “Merdeka Belajar” Curriculum," EDUKATIF : JURNAL ILMU PENDIDIKAN, vol. 3,
pp. 1982-1992, 06/26 2021, doi: 10.31004/edukatif.v3i5.672.
[2] K. Lambert and D. Penney, "‘It was just as political as it was pragmatic’: the
(in)formal roles and policy work of ‘curriculum leaders’ in a federated education
context," Research Papers in Education, pp. 1-25, 2022, doi:
10.1080/02671522.2022.2065519.
[3] D. Penney and L. Alfrey, "Reading curriculum policy and (re)shaping practices: the
possibilities and limits of enactment," Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical
Education, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 214-222, 2022/09/02 2022, doi:
10.1080/25742981.2022.2126793.
[4] J. O’Connor and D. Penney, "Informal sport and curriculum futures: An investigation
of the knowledge, skills and understandings for participation and the possibilities for
physical education," European Physical Education Review, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 3-26,
2021, doi: 10.1177/1356336x20915937.
[5] C. Damayanti, "Perubahan Zaman: Dedikasi Guru," in Basis, ed. Yogyakarta, 2022, pp.
48-57.
[6] A. B. Laksana, "Berhenti Menikmati Hidup: Pendidikan di Massa Krisis," in Basis, ed.
Yogyakarta, 2020, pp. 4-10.
[7] Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Tentang Sistem Keolahragaan, D. P. Rakyat 3
Tahun 2005, 2005.
[8] M. F. Sukri, "Mohammad Sjafei: Arah Aktif Pendidikan Indonesia," in Basis, ed.
Yogyakarta, 2019, pp. 24-27.
[9] D. Budi and A. Listiandi, Model Pembelajaran dalam Pendidikan Jasmani. 2021.
[10] S. Zhang and D. Unger, "Exploring mentor self-disclosure in preservice teachers’ field
experience," Journal of Education for Teaching, pp. 1-14, 2022, doi:
10.1080/02607476.2022.2155508.
[11] S. Beni, T. Fletcher, and D. Ní Chróinín, "Teachers’ Engagement With Professional
Development to Support Implementation of Meaningful Physical Education," (in
English), Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 570-579, 01
Oct. 2022 2022, doi: 10.1123/jtpe.2021-0137.
[12] M. Van Manen, Phenomenology of practice: Meaning-giving methods in
phenomenological research and writing. Routledge, 2016.
[13] C. Houston, "Why social scientists still need phenomenology," Thesis Eleven, vol. 168,
no. 1, pp. 37-54, 2022, doi: 10.1177/07255136211064326.
[14] M. Van Manen, Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive
pedagogy. Routledge, 2016.
[15] M. T. Bevan, "A Method of Phenomenological Interviewing," Qualitative Health
Research, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 136-144, 2014/01/01 2014, doi:
10.1177/1049732313519710.
[16] N. Ächtler, "Teaching Schiller
Philological Discourse and Educational Practice at Schools of Higher Education in the
German Kaiserreich—The Example of Wallenstein," in Policies and Practice in
Language Learning and Teaching, S. Doff and R. Smith Eds., (20th-century Historical
Perspectives: Amsterdam University Press, 2022, pp. 45-70.
[17] B. H. Juliawan, "SDM Unggul Indonesia Maju," in Basis, ed, 2019, pp. 2-3.
[18] Haryatmoko, "Mencari Kebijakan di Era Post-Truth: Menghadapi Hoaks, Emosi Sosial,
dan Populisme Agama," in Basis, ed. Yogyakarta, 2019, pp. 28-37.
[19] C. Peiró-Velert, P. Molina-Alventosa, D. Kirk, and J. Devís-Devís, "The Uses of Printed
Curriculum Materials by Teachers During Instruction and the Social Construction of
Pedagogic Discourse in Physical Education," (in English), Journal of Teaching in
Physical Education, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 18-35, 01 Jan. 2015 2015, doi:
10.1123/jtpe.2012-0157.
[20] A. Calderón and A. MacPhail, "Seizing the opportunity to redesign physical education
teacher education: blending paradigms to create transformative experiences in
teacher education," Sport, Education and Society, pp. 1-14, 2021, doi:
10.1080/13573322.2021.1997981.
[21] A. Sudiarja, "Setiap Perjuangan Mengikuti Corak Zamannya," in Basis, ed. Yogyakarta,
2021, pp. 2-3.
[22] S. L. Burson, S. C. Mulhearn, D. M. Castelli, and H. van der Mars, "Essential
Components of Physical Education: Policy and Environment," (in eng), Res Q Exerc
Sport, vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 209-221, Jun 2021, doi: 10.1080/02701367.2021.1884178.
[23] E. Ossiannilsson, Z. Altinay, and F. Altinay, "Transformation of Teaching and Learning
in Higher Education towards Open Learning Arenas
A Question of Quality," in Open Education, P. Blessinger and T. J. Bliss Eds., 1 ed.
(International Perspectives in Higher Education: Open Book Publishers, 2016, pp.
159-178.
[24] M. Krepf and J. König, "Structuring the lesson: an empirical investigation of pre-
service teacher decision-making during the planning of a demonstration lesson,"
Journal of Education for Teaching, pp. 1-16, 2022, doi:
10.1080/02607476.2022.2151877.
[25] D. Scanlon, A. MacPhail, and A. Calderón, "A figurational analysis of teachers and
students as policy actors in policy enactment: ‘Integrated Learning Experiences’ in
examinable physical education curriculum," European Physical Education Review, vol.
0, no. 0, p. 1356336X221139945, doi: 10.1177/1356336x221139945.
[26] L. Alfrey, J. O'Connor, and R. Jeanes, "Teachers as policy actors: co-creating and
enacting critical inquiry in secondary health and physical education," Physical
Education and Sport Pedagogy, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 107-120, 2017/03/04 2017, doi:
10.1080/17408989.2015.1123237.
[27] A. Adel, "Future of industry 5.0 in society: human-centric solutions, challenges and
prospective research areas," Journal of Cloud Computing, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 40,
2022/09/08 2022, doi: 10.1186/s13677-022-00314-5.
[28] M. E. Block, J. Haegele, L. Kelly, and I. Obrusnikova, "Exploring Future Research in
Adapted Physical Education," (in eng), Res Q Exerc Sport, vol. 92, no. 3, pp. 429-442,
Sep 2021, doi: 10.1080/02701367.2020.1741500.
[29] I. López-Fernández, R. Burgueño, and F. J. Gil-Espinosa, "High School Physical
Education Teachers' Perceptions of Blended Learning One Year after the Onset of the
COVID-19 Pandemic," (in eng), Int J Environ Res Public Health, vol. 18, no. 21, Oct 24
2021, doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111146.