Implications of the Implementation of the Independent Curriculum for the Development of Students' Talents and Interests

Technological advances in the world of education have an influence on all aspects related to these educational activities. One of the things that is strongly influenced by the development or advancement of these technologies is the education curriculum. In Indonesia itself, the education curriculum has experienced development from time to time in accordance with the demands of the times. Most recently, Indonesia is now implementing an independent curriculum. An independent curriculum is a curriculum that gives freedom to children regarding their talents and interests in the learning process. The purpose of this research is to find out the implications of implementing the independent curriculum on the development of students' talents and interests. The method used in this research is a qualitative research method with a literature study model. The results of this study are that students' talents and interests have increasingly developed since the implementation of the independent curriculum. Students' talents and interests are more easily identified and developed with this independent curriculum provision. The independent curriculum makes students' talents and interests a reference in determining and compiling teaching materials to suit what students need to follow the learning process.


INTRODUCTION
Technological developments and advances continue to occur and accompany human life (Taherdoost, 2018).Human life that takes place every day will never be separated from technology (Scherer dkk., 2019).Technology does not only influence one area of human life, but almost all aspects of human life are affected by technology that continues to grow as if without obstacles (Azizah dkk., 2022;Nicholas dkk., 2023;Putri dkk., 2023).One part of human life that is greatly influenced by the development of this technology is the field of Education.Education is a teaching and learning process that is not only focused on the transfer of knowledge, but in it there is also a transfer of value (Iwanaga dkk., 2021).Transfer of knowledge is the process of sending knowledge from educators to students (Chen dkk., 2020).While the transfer of value here the scope or understanding is broader than just transferring knowledge (Lövdén dkk., 2020).In this transfer of value there are activities where the teacher sends or provides education regarding values that are important for the lives of students in carrying out their daily lives.These values will shape and improve the attitude, character and manners of students in family, community and state life.To be able to realize appropriate education that is good, directed and on target, a tool is needed that will become the basis or reference for carrying out these educational activities.This foundation is called the Education curriculum The educational curriculum is a reference or basis for how educational activities should be carried out, the goals to be achieved by the education being carried out and for whom the education is being carried out.(Wang dkk., 2021).Through the education curriculum, it can run smoothly because it has guidelines in carrying out the education process (Mulder dkk., 2019).The curriculum can make the teaching-learning process feel more directed because in the curriculum everything is clearly regulated, be it the purpose, the content/material that must be taught to students, the methods used in the education process and what kind of evaluation is appropriate to do in accordance with the learning given (Wingate, 2018).
The curriculum is not something that is fixed or does not experience change or development at all.Because the curriculum is a reference or foundation in the world of education, it is necessary to change or develop the curriculum in order to improve the performance of an education carried out (Holly dkk., 2023;Vicky dkk., 2023).Therefore, the development of an educational curriculum is very important in order to create a better and more improved education than before and the demands needed by the people and the times can be fulfilled.Curriculum development is a process of planning and compiling curriculum tools by the authorities so that the curriculum that has been produced can later become a reference or basis in the education process so that national education goals can be achieved.(Schneiderhan dkk., 2019).
Indonesia is a country that is also very concerned about educational activities, even though education in Indonesia is not as advanced and as good as education in developed countries (Levan's dkk., 2022;Saputra dkk., 2022).That's why Indonesia always develops curriculum with the aim of equating education in Indonesia with developed countries.In Indonesia itself, curriculum development has been carried out several times since Indonesia became independent on August 17, 1945.Approximately seven changes or curriculum developments have occurred until 2023.At this time in Indonesia using the independent curriculum in educational activities (Syam, 2019).
The independent curriculum is a curriculum that contains a variety of intracurricular learning so that the content or learning materials are further optimized so that students have sufficient time to explore concepts and strengthen their competence in teaching and learning activities (Amrina dkk., 2022;Maryati dkk., 2022).This independent curriculum is directed at strengthening the project to achieve a Pancasila youth profile, in which the project is not directed at specific learning targets or goals so it is not tied to learning material or content.(Swandari & Jemani, 2023).In the independent curriculum, educators have the freedom to determine learning tools that can be adapted to the needs and talents and interests of students.
Talent is a potential that exists in humans as a trait that needs to be developed and honed so that it can become something more positive and meaningful.Meanwhile, interest is a tendency that exists in a person towards something and is something that is valuable for that person so that it needs to be channeled and developed (Fathia dkk., 2022;Saskia dkk., 2023).Students' talents and interests are the forerunner to the formation of soft skills in a person if honed, developed and channeled properly and appropriately.In the world of education, students' talents and interests are important things to be considered by teachers or educators so that educators know and determine the potential of each student and know ways to develop it.With that, Education can achieve its goals.
Education today requires the creation of humans who can adapt to the times and technology.Therefore, the development of the education curriculum to the current independent curriculum is of course an attempt by the government to be able to achieve these educational goals (Liam dkk., 2023).In establishing the current independent curriculum, of course there are questions from various parties whether this independent curriculum can realize these dreams or demands.In the independent curriculum, the teaching tools provided by the teacher are adapted to the needs and interests of students.The purpose of this study was to find out the implications of implementing the independent curriculum on the development of students' talents and interests.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study uses a qualitative research method with a literature study model.Researchers initially read several books, articles or other sources related to the research being conducted.After that, the researcher understands the information available from these reading sources.The researcher then records the important points or important information needed to be concluded by the researcher.The conclusions drawn by the researcher from the opinions of experts or previous researchers are then concluded and added to the researcher's personal opinion or argument.This research was conducted when the independent curriculum had already been implemented in almost all schools and previous researchers had reviewed this study before.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Success in the educational process can be determined by several factors.One of them is the education curriculum used.The education curriculum needs to be developed so that education can achieve its goals and be oriented to the times.If the curriculum does not experience development and only uses the same curriculum throughout the ages, then education will not succeed in achieving its goals.Curriculum development must pay attention to aspects of scientific and technological development as well as aspects of demands from society or what is needed by society at that time.The independent curriculum is a curriculum in which there are various kinds of intracurricular learning so that students have more time to optimize their activities in understanding the content of the material and increasing their competence in the learning process.(Suryadi & Ndona, 2023).An independent curriculum is a curriculum that provides a lot of learning that can be used by educators and students in the classroom with sufficient time allocation for students to strengthen their potential.So, this independent curriculum is a curriculum that provides various types of learning in the classroom so that students have enough time to be able to strengthen their potential in understanding the learning material and increase their potential in the learning.
The independent curriculum is actually an emergency curriculum set by the government when covid-19 spread in Indonesia in 2020.In order to still be able to carry out the learning process even with remote or online conditions, this independent curriculum was set to be used as a replacement for the 2013 curriculum that had been set and previously used in the framework of the restoration of the teaching and learning process in Indonesia (Murphy, 2020).In addition, the results of the PISA study showed that around 70% of students under the age of 15 years were less able to understand reading or concepts in basic mathematics learning.This result has not improved even after the last fifteen years (Zulkardi & Kohar, 2018).So it can be concluded that there is a gap in the quality of learning between several groups and regions in the socioeconomic.
Each curriculum certainly has its own characteristics, as well as the independent curriculum which is often discussed by education experts at this time.Then some of the characteristics of the independent curriculum are: First, this independent curriculum is more focused on essential material so that the teaching and learning process takes place more deeply.Second, in order to realize the Pancasila youth profile, students are given more time to improve their competence and character.Third, in order to suit the needs of students and the conditions in the education unit, in this independent curriculum learning outcomes and learning hours are more flexible.Fourth, the independent curriculum uses teaching tools that will later be adapted to the needs and interests of students and provide training materials so that the curriculum is more developed.Fifth, the implementation of the independent curriculum is an activity of mutual assistance from all parties (Budiono, 2023).
The independent curriculum contains three types of teaching and learning activities, namely: First, intra-curricular learning, in this lesson the teacher is given the freedom to choose learning tools that are tailored to the needs and interests of students, while the students themselves are given more time to understand the learning material taught.given.Second, co-curricular learning, in this type of learning is more focused on developing competence and character in students to be able to create a profile of Pancasila youth.Third, extracurricular learning, this learning is more oriented towards self-development of students which is directed according to the talents and interests of the students themselves (Ahmadi dkk., 2023).
Learning in the independent curriculum has several stages in order to achieve learning objectives, namely: First, the diagnostic assessment stage, this is the initial stage where usually at the beginning of each year the teacher conducts several assessments to be able to identify all things related to students so that the results of the assessment can be be a reference for teachers to develop learning in the future.Second, the planning stage, at this stage the teacher then groups students for teaching and learning activities based on the abilities possessed by these students and compiles teaching devices based on the results of the assessment that has been carried out before.Finally, the learning stage, at this stage learning activities are carried out in accordance with what has been planned by the teacher and carry out regular formal assessments to see the success of learning that has been prepared by the teacher beforehand and also carry out evaluations to see whether the learning objectives are achieved or not (Jayawardana dkk., 2022).
An independent curriculum as a reference in educational activities certainly has benefits or advantages in its application, among these benefits is learning that is tailored to the competence of students making learning more enjoyable, teachers can be more creative and innovative in preparing the tools needed in learning, students are given more time to understand concepts or learning materials, learning activities are not tied to specific learning goals or achievements so that they are more flexible and in this independent curriculum students can choose and get learning according to their talents and interests (Fauzi, 2022).Developing students' talents and interests is not an easy thing.Talents and interests exist naturally in each individual student (Zahroh, 2021).But to develop it is quite a difficult task for the teacher because most students are too difficult to recognize their own self and are not confident to develop every potential that exists in them.(Bariadi dkk., 2022).For this reason, teachers must be able to recognize the potential that exists in each student.If the teacher cannot recognize the competencies that exist in each student, it will be difficult to achieve the goals of this independent curriculum, namely to develop students' talents and interests.
The independent curriculum is a curriculum that frees each student to choose learning according to their talents and interests.Of course, the implementation of this independent curriculum really supports students to be able to bring out all their potential talents and channel their every interest in the learning process (Mulyasari dkk., 2023;Wanti dkk., 2023).With this independent curriculum in education, students have greater opportunities to develop their talents and interests.In addition, students become easier and more confident to express themselves through channeling their talents and interests.Development of students' talents and interests can be implemented in extracurricular learning activities, where this learning will be adapted to the talents and interests of students.With that, the competence of students will continue to increase because the talents and interests that exist in them have been channeled properly and well (Auliani dkk., 2023;Mustafiyanti dkk., 2023).In addition to extracurricular activities, the development of students' talents and interests can also be developed through intracurricular activities where students are free to choose the learning they like and the teacher provides teaching tools that suit the talents and interests of students.So, it can be concluded that the application of this independent curriculum is very supportive and has a positive impact on developing students' talents and interests.

CONCLUSION
The independent curriculum is a curriculum that provides various kinds of learning in the classroom so that students have enough time to be able to strengthen their potential in understanding learning material and increase their potential in that learning.This curriculum is an emergency curriculum implemented during the Covid-19 period and is in response to the PISA results regarding the quality of students in Indonesia.The characteristics of the independent curriculum are more focused on essential material, more learning time, flexible learning outcomes and hours, teaching tools are adapted to the needs of students and the implementation of this curriculum is the result of mutual assistance from various parties.In the independent curriculum there are three types of learning, namely intracurricular, co-curricular and extracurricular.The stages of learning in the independent curriculum include the stages of diagnostic assessment, planning and learning.The benefits of an independent curriculum are that learning is more fun, teachers are more creative and innovative, students understand more about learning concepts, learning is more flexible and students can choose learning according to their talents and interests.With the implementation of this independent curriculum students have a greater opportunity to develop their talents and interests both in extracurricular and intracurricular learning.Ahmadi, A., Nurdin, A. A., Sobarningsih, I., & Hernawan, A. H. (2023)