Abstract
Educational freedom is often associated with choice, autonomy, and reduced external control, yet these elements do not by themselves explain what makes freedom educationally meaningful. This study reconstructs Ibn Sina’s educational philosophy to develop Responsible Educational Freedom (REF) and uses the framework to examine the normative orientation of Indonesia’s Merdeka Curriculum. The study employs a conceptual-philosophical approach based on library research, drawing on Ibn Sina’s psychological and metaphysical works, critical scholarship, contemporary literature on educational autonomy, and current curriculum regulations. Source attribution is treated as an analytical concern, particularly the disputed attribution of al-Siyāsa. The reconstruction identifies four interrelated dimensions of REF: intellectual agency, cultivation of capacities, ethical self-governance and responsibility, and teleological-spiritual orientation. These dimensions distinguish the availability of choice from the developed capacity to exercise freedom through rational judgment, responsibility, and orientation toward meaningful human formation. Applied to the Merdeka Curriculum, REF provides a philosophical reading of flexibility, differentiation, independence, and critical reasoning without implying historical influence from Ibn Sina. The study contributes a source-sensitive framework for examining educational freedom beyond autonomy-centered interpretations. REF remains conceptual and requires empirical investigation before further development as a pedagogical model or measurement framework.