CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES OF ENGLISH TEACHERS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF KURIKULUM MERDEKA AT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL OF PONOROGO

There have been periodic changes in the Indonesian curriculum which have caused difficulties for teachers and students to adapt to curriculum changes. the currently implemented curriculum is the Kurikulum Merdeka. The Kurikulum Merdeka is a curriculum that gives educators the flexibility to create quality learning that suits the needs and learning environment of students. this raises challenges for teachers and students to maximize the implementation of the Kurikulum Merdeka.
Therefore, this research aims to explain the challenges and strategies applied by high school English teachers of Ponorogo in Implementation of KM. This study is important because researchers have not found research regarding the challenges and strategies used by English teachers in Implementation of KM at senior high schools in Ponorogo.
This study used a qualitative methodology to examine the challenges and strategies faced by English teachers at Ponorogo High School as they apply the Kurikulum Merdeka. The subject of this research were English teachers in Ponorogo, as follows: SMAN 1 Ponorogo, SMAN 3 Ponorogo, SMAN 1 Badegan, and SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Ponorogo. The researcher employed observation and interview methods to gather the data.
The results of this study state that there were three challenges for high school teachers in Ponorogo, namely the lack of maximizing differentiated learning, differences in learning tools at each level, and weak student motivation. Then the strategies carried out by teachers to answer the challenges of implementing KM were peer tutors, frequent access to independent teaching platforms and appreciation and collaboration with related parties. It can be concluded that there were still challenges that arise even though they have implemented KM in the second year but teachers make strategies to overcome them and the challenges that researchers find were some different from the previous findings.