<![CDATA[21st century learning has become a central demand in early childhood education (ECE), particularly following the implementation of the Kurikulum Merdeka, which emphasizes meaningful learning and holistic competency development. Previous studies have predominantly focused on quantitative measures of teacher readiness, offering limited insight into how teachers interpret and enact 21st century learning in daily practice. This study aims to explore ECE teachers’ perceptions and the contextual factors influencing their pedagogical decision-making. This study employed a descriptive phenomenological approach, with data collected through in-depth interviews with eight teachers from four private ECE institutions in Bandung. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicate a gap between conceptual understanding and practice, with teachers' understanding shaped more by teaching experience than by formal theoretical frameworks. Nevertheless, their learning practices reflected the integration of 21st-century skills. The findings also revealed tensions between normative demands and contextual realities and demonstrated how teachers translate 21st-century learning demands into practice under academic pressures and institutional constraints. ]]>
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