The comprehensive understanding towards
Merdeka Curriculum is crucial for pre-service
teachers because they will be responsible for
effectively implementing it with their pedagogical
knowledge, but it was found that only two from nine
pre-service teachers who have good understanding
towards Merdeka curriculum. This study aims to
explore the issue in-depth about the strategies used
by pre-service teachers in understanding Merdeka
curriculum through conducting a case study with a
qualitative approach. The subjects of this research
are the students of the English Education
Department from two different private Universities
in Yogyakarta who have joined PPL (Program
Pengenalan Lapangan) and have comprehensive
understanding towards the Merdeka curriculum.
The study used interview, observation, and
document analysis to collect the data. The findings
of this study indicate that the strategies used by the
pre-service teachers were looking for information
from the internet, reading, having discussion, and
practice. Besides, understanding the core principle
of Merdeka Belajar Curriculum, they also put it into
practice in class. The respondents also indicate that
they are having applied the Merdeka curriculum
into their teaching practice, but they faced
difficulties in differentiated learning