EVALUATION OF MBKM PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

The two most important things in education in Indonesia today are 'Freedom to Learn' and driving teachers. This study aims to provide an overview of the implementation of the 'Freedom to Learn' program at the elementary school level, as well as to explain the various innovations, obstacles encountered, and solutions made by the school and teachers as teaching boards. This study uses descriptive quantitative research methods, with 166 respondents from 21 districts/cities in East Java. The results of this study show that; (1) the successful implementation of the 'Freedom to Learn' program can be seen from the ability of schools and teachers to develop teaching creativity during the learning process. (2) Most of the obstacles encountered during program implementation stem from the inability of the teacher to provide learning methods that are right on target, skills that are not sufficient and the limited ability of students to accept the 'transfers of knowledge' provided by the teacher. This study concludes that schools and teachers can optimize learning innovations by using various methods adapted to the student's environment, such as; applying student center learning learning methods, exposition discovery learning methods, individual group learning methods, brainstorming methods, blended learning, and other methods that can improve students' skills and creativity, by implementing fun teaching and learning programs.


INTRODUCTION
The development of the education system in Indonesia continues to increase, both in terms of quality and quantity implemented through teaching and learning processes inside and outside of school.Through improving the existing education system, present and future civilizations are expected to be able to encourage the growth of a golden generation and superior and sustainable Human Resources. 1 The education system must keep up with the times in the era of globalization and digitalization with all the dynamics and progress that follow. 234The two most important things in education today that have been adapted to the education system in Indonesia are 'Freedom to Learn' and driving teachers.
Through the breakthrough of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), independent learning is intended to advance education in Indonesia.This thinking is a step that is considered very strategic and innovative as well as a big challenge in the world of education in Indonesia.Freedom of learning is the freedom of educational institutions, both schools, teachers and students as an effort to continue to innovate, be independent and creative 5 in carrying out a fun teaching and learning process.Yamin & Syahrir 6 state that Merdeka Learning is oriented towards learning which prioritizes the assignment of various literacy sources while continuing to develop and develop character education, which includes hard work, independence, discipline, religiosity, honesty, justice, curiosity, tolerance, responsibility, creativity, mutual respect, concern for the environment and society, love for the motherland, and national spirit.
The implementation of the Freedom to Learn policy encourages the role of schools and teachers both in curriculum development and in the learning process to actively 1 Anna Lehtonen., Arto O. Salonen., & Hannele Cantell, 'Climate change education: A new approach for a world of wicked problems', Sustainability, human well-being, and the future of education, (2019), 339-374.<https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78580-6_11>.
3 Eko Suhartoyo., Sitti Ainun Wailissa., Saika Jalarwati., Samsia Samsia., Surya Wati., Nur  Qomariah., Elly Dayanti., Imas Maulani., Imam Mukhlis., Muhammad Holqi Rizki Azhari., Hidayatulloh  Muhammad Isa., & Ilham  innovate and increase teaching creativity.According to Prasetyas,7 the key to the success of education in Indonesia in implementing the Freedom to Learn program policy is the existence of an adaptive curriculum and being able to adapt to the times.In Merdeka Learning, apart from being a source of learning, the teacher also acts as a learning facilitator supported by pedagogical, personal, professional, and social competencies.With these competencies (skills), teachers can realize the implementation and objectives of implementing the Free Learning policy.Merdeka Learning itself is a concept that aims to return the national education system to the essence of the law to give independence to schools by interpreting the basic curriculum competencies that are their assessment. 8The Freedom to Learn Program also gives freedom to educational institutions, to be free from bureaucratization, students are free to choose their preferred field, and teachers are free in carrying out assessments and teaching and learning processes. 9 10cording to the Ministry of Education and Culture and Technology, the implementation of the Free Learning policy initiated by the government includes four basic policies, namely: (1) Implementation of the National Based Examination (USBN) is changed to an examination (assessment) whose implementation is left to each school; (2) Substitution of the National Examination (UN) as an indicator of student graduation and success into a Minimum Competency Assessment and Character Survey; (3) Teachers are given the freedom to develop the RPP format (Learning Implementation Plan); and (4) Regulations concerning the acceptance of new students (PPDB), which were previously zoning, became more flexible to accommodate various conditions in the regions. 11Therefore, schools and teachers both have very important roles and responsibilities both in curricul0)um development and in its implementation.Likewise, teachers play a very important role in the implementation of the Freedom to Learn policy, and contribute effectively and collaboratively to work with school curriculum development to organize and structure materials, textbooks/coursebooks, and learning content.
Curriculum development in the education system and in the current context in Indonesia, MBKM is a curriculum goal that is considered very essential at the level of education up to university. 12Changes and updates to this system have come to the attention of many scholars, experts and researchers to examine and conduct a more indepth analysis regarding the implementation and application of the MBKM program in educational settings.For example, in a study conducted by Sudaryanto, widayati, & Amalia 13 examined the relationship between the concept of Independent Learning Independent Campus and the field of education in Indonesian language and literature.In line with this study, Arifin & Muslim 14 also conducted a study of the implementation of the Freedom to Learn policy and the challenges of its implementation in private Islamic universities in Indonesia.The study conducted by Kurniawan, Saputra, Daulay, & Zubaidah 15 also revealed other findings, that the paradigm that has occurred in the field recently shows that the implementation of the MBKM policy has in fact not been fully implemented due to various constraints and problems both internal and external.
Various previous studies related to the implementation of the MBKM program have been carried out by many researchers.However, this study is considered important to study in order to evaluate how MBKM is implemented in elementary schools.Thus, this study is expected to be able to produce policy recommendations related to the implementation of MBKM.

RESEARCH METHODS
This study examines the evaluation of the implementation of MBKM at the elementary school level.This study was conducted in East Java, where based on the policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology that the MBKM curriculum aims to provide the widest possible opportunity for students to be able to explore themselves, both the interests and talents of each student, so that can choose the appropriate educational path.With the MBKM curriculum, it is hoped that students will be able to think critically, independently and enhance cooperation among students.
Based on Permendikbudristek No. 7 of 2022, the implementation of the Independent Curriculum in an effort to restore learning is carried out based on content standards developed through the formulation of the scope of material that is in accordance with the competence of graduates.Since its launch in 2022, the Independent Curriculum has been implemented in more than 140 thousand schools. 16Meanwhile in East Java itself, since July 2022, as many as 76 percent of the 4,086 educational units have implemented the Independent Curriculum.17 This study uses a quantitative research method with a descriptive type.Respondents in this study were elementary school teachers, from both public and private schools.The research respondents were 166 teachers.The data shows that 16 respondents (9.6%) were male teachers and 150 respondents (90.4%) were female teachers.The research locations are spread over 21 regencies/cities in the East Java region.A total of 147 respondents (88.6%) came from public elementary schools and 19 respondents (11.4%) came from private elementary schools.
Data collection was carried out through interviews, using a questionnaire instrument.Data is then collected and analyzed with previous studies and relevant theories.Data analysis techniques in this study used the stages of data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions.The technique of drawing conclusions is based on the results and discussion in the study.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Education in Indonesia continues to make system improvements by adjusting the needs of educators/teachers and students.This improvement is expected to result in an increase in the quality of Human Resources that is superior and has character.This study produced several findings related to the MBKM program in elementary schools in East Java, namely; First, implementing the MBKM program in elementary schools.Second, the obstacles that must be faced in implementing the MBKM program in elementary schools.Third, the solutions offered by teachers, schools and the government regaçrding the implementation of the MBKM program in elementary schools.

Implementation of the MBKM Program in Elementary Schools
The current implementation of education has two important points, namely 'Freedom to Learn' and 'Moving Teacher.Freedom of Learning is defined as a condition in which educators/teachers and students/students have the freedom to learn independently, creatively and are able to innovate.This study resulted in the finding that out of 166 respondents stated that the implementation of the MBKM program in elementary schools was divided into four groups (see Source: Primary data The implementation of the MBKM program in elementary schools is actually divided into two major groups, some of which are implemented for all grades from grade one to grade six of elementary school.But there are also those that are only implemented for certain classes and are not designed as a whole for all classes.The results of the study showed that there were 22.9% who stated that all classes took part in the MBKM program in elementary schools.As many as 12.0% of teachers in this study stated that in their schools, the MBKM program in elementary schools was only implemented for students in grades 1, 2 and 3.
As many as 13.9% of teachers stated that in their schools the MBKM program was only implemented for students in grades 4, 5 and 6.Some teachers, including around 6.0%, stated that the implementation of the MBKM program only applies to grade 1 students.While the majority of respondents, namely as many as 42.2% of teachers stated that the MBKM program was only implemented for grade 1 and grade 4 elementary school students where they taught.On the other hand, 3.0% of teachers stated that in their schools the MBKM program had not been implemented at all.The distribution of the implementation of the MBKM program in elementary schools which is not the same as one another can be seen in Table 2 below.Based on the findings of this study data, it can be explained that the Freedom to Learn program has in fact not been fully implemented.This is in line with the results of a study by Kurniawan, Saputra, Daulay, & Zubaidah 18 which also revealed that the conditions that occurred in the field showed that the implementation of the MBKM policy had not been fully implemented due to various constraints and problems both internally and externally.

Obstacles Faced in Implementing the MBKM Program in Elementary Schools
Implementation in the implementation of the Freedom to Learn (MBKM) program encourages more active roles for teachers both through curriculum development and through the teaching and learning process.In implementing the MBKM program, the teacher acts as a learning facilitator supported by pedagogical, personality, professional, and social competencies.With these competency qualifications, educators/teachers can realize the objectives and implement the MBKM policy.However, every program that has been designed will in fact always face obstacles in the implementation process.
One of the real obstacles that must be faced in the MBKM policy is the busyness of teachers who are trapped in learning administration so that teachers are not optimal in carrying out the learning process in class.The educational climate in Indonesia accepts that one of the teacher's duties is to prepare and organize learning administration in accordance with applicable regulations.The busyness of taking care of the administration of learning is part of the learning process.Teachers and schools are caught up in ways and objectives which make education administration the main activity so as not to violate bureaucratic regulations, accreditation, grades and exams.Teachers and schools actually make educational administration the goal and priority of educational activities.
The implementation of the MBKM program also had many other obstacles, which prevented the policy from running smoothly according to the objectives to be achieved (see Table 3).Based on the results of data collection from 166 research respondents, the obstacles faced by both schools and teachers can be explained through four major groups, namely: (1) Teachers and teaching staff do not have experience that can be adapted to implementing the MBKM program in elementary schools, there are as many as 22.9% of teachers in this study acknowledged these obstacles; (2) There were 23.5% of teachers who stated that they had limitations in terms of references regarding the rimplementation of the MBKM program; (3) Another 22.3% stated that they lacked access to the learning process; and (4) There were 15.7% who stated that the obstacle they faced was the lack of adequate competence (skills) on the part of educators/teachers.Of course, these constraints can affect the movement of educators/teachers in supporting the implementation of the MBKM program in each school where they teach.Apart from the administrative busyness of the school, as well as the four major obstacles that have been mentioned, there are still several other obstacles that reduce the program's performance in achieving the desired 'Freedom to Learn' goal.These obstacles include the limitations of textbooks and understanding of management or how to make teaching modules, students feel bored quickly when the material provided requires them to read more, and some students are considered to have difficulty understanding learning material.While the others were due to the fact that the school was lagging behind or had not implemented the MBKM program.

Solutions offered by Teachers, Schools and the Government regarding the Implementation of the MBKM Program in Elementary Schools
The implementation of the MBKM program in every school certainly has many variations in implementation, both in terms of creativity and innovation by the local government, the school's teachers/educators.Apart from the positive things, there are also obstacles/obstacles that require improvement through solutions offered by each related party, especially the school in the success of the MBKM program at the elementary school level.In the two previous discussions, it was explained how the MBKM program was implemented in schools and what obstacles were faced by the school and teachers related to the implementation of the MBKM program.To be able to get out of the limitations and constraints of program implementation, appropriate solutions and problem handling are needed.Of course, this is expected to minimize program failures and can increase the success of the MBKM program implementation that is right on target.
Efforts made by teachers or schools more broadly will encourage the creation of program implementations that are in accordance with the conditions of each student.One learning process go both ways and increases interaction between students;29 (9) Schools and teachers conduct field visits, to carry out comparative studies, as well as to evaluate the learning process; (10) The teacher explores actual issues, so that the learning process is not just monotonous on outdated issues.This also encourages students to be more critical 30 in responding to surrounding problems; and (11) The teacher performs a diagnostic analysis to find out each student's learning interest.
Of the several innovations that have been carried out by the school and each teacher, it shows a very high level of implementation and only one of the many solutions for handling problems that have not been able to be implemented properly (see Table 4).On average, teachers and school officials have carried out several innovations simultaneously with a percentage of more than 90.0%, namely; implementing student center learning (93.4%), intensive class discussions (97.6%), and conducting field visits (92.2%).While on average above 80.0% of schools and teachers have simultaneously innovated by applying exposition discovery learning (89.2%), learning media through games (89.2%), and exploring actual issues (83.7%).
On average, teachers and schools have also carried out several innovations simultaneously with percentages above 70.0%,namely by applying the group individual learning method (74.1%), applying the brainstorming method (79.5%), holding or participating in symposium activities (72.3%), and applying blended learning learning methods (77.7%).However, from the several innovations that have been mentioned, innovation by conducting a diagnostic analysis to determine student learning interest is very minimally carried out by teachers and the school.
Through several innovations that have been made in the implementation of the MBKM program in elementary schools, there have been several positive impacts.Table 5 shows that there were 98.2% who stated that the MBKM program could explore students' learning interests and only 1.8% stated otherwise.The MBKM program increased students' active learning and critical thinking by 97.6% and only 2.4% said they did not.There were 96.4% of teachers who stated that through the MBKM program students could express their interest in learning and only 3.6% could not express their interest in learning.Source: Primary data As many as 98.8% of teachers stated that through the MBKM program they could increase collaboration between students and 95.2% could increase student independence.There were 91.6% who stated that the innovations provided by schools and teachers in the implementation of the MBKM program were considered to be able to improve students' time management abilities.However, there are also some abilities that still cannot be improved even though they have been encouraged by several innovations and learning models, for example; student skills and student creativity with Pancasila profile knowledge.
Through this study it was also found that the implementation of the MBKM program in elementary schools was considered capable of expanding the social network of teachers and students.With the existence of innovation and updating of learning methods, it requires teachers and students to be more active and creative in creating an atmosphere of a fun teaching and learning process.This then brings another positive impact, namely by expanding their social network.Source: Primary data Table 5 shows that there were 60.2% of teachers who stated that their social network had become wider, 35.5% stated that their social network had expanded, and 1.2% of them stated that there had been no increase or that their social network had not expanded.Meanwhile, teachers consider that the social network of their students has also increased very broadly by 43.4%, with the MBKM program students' social networks have expanded by 51.8%, and only 1.8% have not experienced an increase in terms of expanding student social networks.
Critical thinking means supporting collective thinking by developing individual thinking skills, which can be done logically and judgments are personal.Dewey in 1934 31 defines critical thinking as "Persistent, active, and careful consideration of what is believed or alleged form of knowledge in the light of the reasons that support it and the consequences it causes.Whereas Paul in 1988 defined finding critical thinking as the ability to reach the right conclusions based on observations and information. 32sed on this concept, this study found that the curriculum applied to the MBKM learning model was in line with the results of previous studies which stated that critical thinking can increase students' sensitivity to self-exploration, through more openmindedness in analyzing existing situations and conditions.around.With critical thinking students are encouraged to be able to develop more complex ideas, which are in accordance with their individual potential.So that in the end, students can more easily make decisions in solving a problem.

CONCLUSION
The evaluation of the MBKM program implementation in elementary schools presents several novel aspects.Firstly, it focuses on assessing the implementation of the MBKM program specifically in elementary schools.While previous research has predominantly explored MBKM implementation in higher education institutions, this study sheds light on the unique challenges and opportunities at the primary education level.Secondly, the research delves into the context of elementary education, offering insights into how the MBKM program can be integrated into existing primary school curricula.By identifying the distinctive aspects of implementing MBKM in elementary schools, this study provides valuable input for the development of the program at this educational level.
Additionally, the evaluation encompasses various crucial elements, including student participation, teacher support and involvement, the role of school principals, parental support, and the program's impact on student learning and development.This comprehensive evaluation approach not only contributes to a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of the MBKM program at the elementary school level but also strengthens our knowledge of its successful implementation or potential areas for improvement.Ultimately, this research offers a valuable contribution to the field of education, particularly regarding the implementation of innovative programs like MBKM in elementary schools, providing a theoretical and practical foundation for policymakers and educational practitioners, while also paving the way for further research in this area.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 31 Jiang, Y. (2017).A Study on Professional Development of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language in Institutions of Higher Education in Western China.Springer Publication.

Table 1 )
, namely;(1) 28.9% of teachers stated that the MBKM program in elementary schools was running very well; (2) 63.9% of teachers stated that the MBKM program in elementary schools was running well; (3) Approximately 4.2% of teachers stated that the MBKM program in elementary schools was not running well; (4) While another 3.0% stated that the MBKM program had not been implemented in the elementary school where they taught.