Solusi Inovatif Implementasi Kurikulum IPS Melalui Optimalisasi Peran Guru untuk Transformasi Kualitas Pembelajaran Sosial Siswa

Abstract

The need to enhance the quality of social learning in Social Studies (IPS) has become increasingly urgent as students face complex social dynamics in contemporary society. Previous studies have generally emphasized curriculum implementation or teacher performance separately, leaving a significant gap in understanding how innovative teacher-driven strategies can directly transform students’ social learning outcomes. This article aims to address the problem of ineffective curriculum enactment by examining how teachers’ optimized roles, pedagogical, managerial, and socio-cultural, serve as key drivers for transformative learning. Using a qualitative descriptive method, the study focuses on an IPS learning environment in a junior secondary school, employing interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis to gather relevant data. The data were analyzed through stages of reduction, categorization, interpretation, and triangulation to ensure validity. The findings reveal that teacher-centered innovations, such as contextualized learning design, collaborative learning models, and reflective assessment practices, significantly strengthen students’ social understanding and engagement. The study concludes that empowering teachers as curriculum innovators offers a novel pathway to improving the quality of Social Studies learning, with practical implications for educational institutions and policymakers.