Education
COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
Meredith Marshall has spent close to 25 years working in education communications. Fresh out of university with a degree majoring in journalism, Meredith was offered a communications role in the Ministry of Education, where she stayed for six years while developing a very good understanding of the education field. Since this time she has been an independent consultant focused on education communications.
Over the years word-of-mouth has seen Meredith called upon to provide communications and media support to principals and boards of trustees across the country dealing with a wide range of issues – from some of the most significant and complex situations faced by a New Zealand school to more day-to-day communications challenges. The key purpose of her work is to support the school to communicate information to its stakeholders (students, parents, the community) and media in a timely manner and in a format that is clear, useful and free of spin.
Feedback from schools that have worked with Meredith note that her expertise and support has helped them manage communications risk, handle media enquiries and – critically – to be effective communicators with their parents, staff and other stakeholders.
Her key strengths are a very good understanding of the state and state-integrated school sector, a practical mindset, and significant experience working with schools navigating the complexity associated with situations or events such as court proceedings and suppression orders, strained relationships, heightened emotions, tragedy, employment matters, statutory interventions, and the list goes on.
Meredith provides support as required, with schools generally referred by the New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA). Her support can be anything from a brief phone call, through to review of proposed letters or media statements, through to a full strategy and associated draft communications.