"Emergent curriculum" means that the teacher follows the lead of the students in learning rather than writing lesson plans that dictate what is to be learned. This requires teachers to know how and what
children can learn at a particular point in their development and to support and guide learning as it emerges naturally in the classroom, in the natural world, and in the children's community. Of course this approach goes against the current educational policy of standards backed up by high-stakes tests (an approach that perceives schooling from a business point of view).