Curriculum as Compliance, Not Competence: Epistemic Fragmentation in Indonesia’s Underserved Schools
This study examines how curriculum implementation in Indonesia’s underserved frontier, outermost, and disadvantaged (3T) schools is shaped more by compliance with centralized mandates than by the development of pedagogical competence. Drawing on curriculum studies and epistemic justice perspectives, this condition is conceptualized as epistemic fragmentation, in which teachers are positioned as procedural implementers rather than as epistemic agents. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with national-level education experts and senior teachers working in 3T regions. Data were analyzed using thematic coding, supported by NVivo, to examine the epistemic, affective, and instructional dimensions of curriculum enactment. The findings show that rigid curricular standardization, assessment-driven accountability, and credential-oriented policy logics marginalize local knowledge and contextual pedagogical judgment. Rather than strengthening instructional capacity, curriculum compliance fosters adaptive practices that prioritize administrative compliance over meaningful learning. This condition weakens teacher agency and undermines curriculum coherence in structurally constrained contexts. This article contributes to curriculum studies by highlighting the unintended consequences of compliance-oriented governance and by advancing a context-sensitive understanding of curriculum reform in marginalized education systems.