EKSISTENSIALISME DALAM PENDIDIKAN ABAD KE-21: KEBEBASAN, PILIHAN, DAN PENGEMBANGAN DIRI PESERTA DIDIK DALAM KURIKULUM MERDEKA

Abstract

Twenty-first-century education faces a paradox: expanded access to knowledge and learning flexibility are not always accompanied by stronger self-awareness, autonomy, and student responsibility. This study analyzes the relevance of existentialist philosophy to contemporary education and reconstructs the principles of freedom, choice, responsibility, and self-development within the Merdeka Curriculum. A literature review with a qualitative narrative synthesis approach was employed. Primary literature was selected from Indonesian national journals accredited at SINTA 2 and SINTA 3, published between 2020 and 2026, and relevant to educational existentialism, Merdeka Belajar, student-centered learning, learning autonomy, liberating education, and character development. The analysis involved identification, inclusion-based screening, thematic categorization, comparison, and interpretive synthesis. Four major themes emerged: (1) freedom positions students as learning subjects; (2) learning choices contribute to identity formation and autonomy; (3) responsibility serves as the ethical boundary of freedom; and (4) reflection and meaningful experience underpin self-development. This review proposes responsible pedagogical freedom as a reconstruction of existentialist thought in the Merdeka Curriculum. Learning freedom is not understood as the absence of structure, but as a pedagogical space in which students choose, reflect, and take responsibility for their learning within the value framework of Pancasila. The findings underline the need for reflective, dialogical, differentiated, and experience-based learning.