Navigating Curricular Mandates in Peripheral Classrooms: Teachers’ Perceptions of Curriculum 2013 Implementation in Rural Indonesian Schools

Abstract

Curriculum reform in developing countries frequently encounters substantial implementation gaps, particularly in geographically and socioeconomically peripheral settings. Indonesia’s Curriculum 2013 (Kurikulum 2013, K-13) introduced sweeping pedagogical changes, mandating student-centered learning, integrated thematic instruction, and competency-based assessment across the national school system. Yet the lived experiences of teachers working in rural schools as they navigate these policy demands remain insufficiently examined in the existing literature. This study investigates how teachers in rural Indonesian schools perceive the implementation of Curriculum 2013, exploring the specific challenges they encounter, the adaptive strategies they develop, and the ways in which rural school conditions mediate instructional practice. Employing a descriptive qualitative approach, the study was conducted across four rural primary and junior secondary schools in a peripheral district of Aceh Province, Indonesia. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with fifteen teachers, non-participant classroom observations, field notes, and curriculum document analysis over six months of fieldwork. Thematic analysis following the framework of Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014) was applied to identify recurring patterns across participants. Findings reveal that while teachers broadly affirm the philosophical intentions of Curriculum 2013, they report persistent tensions between policy expectations and the material realities of rural schooling, including inadequate facilities, constrained professional development access, and heavy administrative burdens. Teachers nonetheless demonstrate considerable adaptive ingenuity, yet systemic constraints curtail the depth of pedagogical transformation achievable under prevailing conditions. These findings carry significant implications for curriculum policy design, teacher professional development programs, and educational equity in rural contexts across Indonesia and comparable national settings.