Sharada Kenkare

Sharada brings over fifteen years of progressive leadership in curriculum design, instructional practice, and professional development. She joined GEMS Modern Academy in 2012 and has since grown into an executive leadership role that spans the full breadth of the school's academic life — from curriculum architecture and benchmark preparedness to teacher development and school-wide quality assurance.

In her current role as Dean of Curriculum and Professional Development Lead, Sharada leads and collaborates on academic processes with a particular focus on curriculum coherence, planning, and alignment to external benchmark frameworks including TIMSS, PISA, and ASSET. She directly line manages Gifted and Talented Provision and the mandatory subject Moral, Social and Cultural Studies (MSCS), reflecting her commitment to both inclusive excellence and values-driven education. As Cluster Professional Development Lead across the cluster of 6 GEMS schools and a TLAG Excellence Fellow, she also supports instructional quality and coaching culture beyond the walls of Modern.

As a member of the GEMS IRD and Harvard Project Zero's Creating Communities of Innovation project (2016–2018), Sharada co-designed an innovative curriculum framework called the Futures Curriculum: A Design-Based Approachalongside six colleagues. She co-presented this work at the Project Zero International Conference in Pittsburgh in May 2017, and at the KHDA What Works Conference in November 2017 — contributions that reflect her sustained commitment to research-informed practice.

Prior to her current role, Sharada served as School Support Manager with Educational Initiatives for UAE and Oman (2011–2012), where she trained and collaborated with educators across Indian curriculum schools in both countries. Earlier in her career, she worked as an undergraduate lecturer in Zoology and as Curriculum Lead (IGCSE and ICSE) in the R&D department at Kangaroo Kids Education Limited. She holds a postgraduate degree from Mumbai University and an MPhil from Alagappa University, India. She is currently completing her Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies and Learning Sciences at Edgewood University, deepening an already rigorous practice with sustained academic inquiry.

A lifelong learner in both principle and practice, Sharada remains purposefully current with global trends in curriculum, pedagogy, and educational leadership — guided by her belief that the meaning of life is to find your gift, and the purpose of life is to give it away.