Author profile

WELCOME! Thanks for visiting my profile page.

I’m a writer, researcher, teacher and sometime photographer. For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in words and what they mean and how to put them together better. And I’m learning all the time.

[Please scroll straight to the bottom if you’re looking for my publications.]

My background
I live in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It’s the city I grew up in, but until my return in 2005 I spent most of my working life in other parts of the country or overseas. I’ve lived and worked in south-east, central and north Queensland, Papua New Guinea, Armidale and Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, and Adelaide, South Australia.

Internationally, apart from four years in PNG I’ve lived in England on a short job-exchange and taught students at in-country workshops in Singapore, Malaysia and Nepal. Across the years I’ve also travelled in Asia, Europe and North America for business and pleasure.

I’m married to Cheryl and we have four adult children and seven grandchildren in three states. Cheryl thinks I’m also married to my laptop.

My career
Currently I’m an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University, Brisbane. In 2024 I was a Visiting Scholar in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal with Australian Volunteers.

For what it’s worth, my academic qualifications are PhD, MEd (Hons) (UNE), BA, BEdStud (UQ).

I’m also currently a mentor with the Queensland Writers Centre, and enjoy helping aspiring writers develop their manuscripts to potentially publishable stage. In addition, I’m convenor of a Writers Group at a suburban Men’s Shed in Brisbane, where we’re mainly writing (and publishing) life stories.

I’ve been a public servant, high school teacher, Army Education instructor, college lecturer, even taxi driver for a brief period, program organiser in adult education, university academic, and deputy director of a state government lifelong learning centre. In my extensive academic life I’ve taught, researched and published in the fields of adult and vocational education for many years, in four universities. For some years I was Editor of the international Journal of Workplace Learning (Emerald Publishing).

My publications
In addition to my academic writing, to date I’ve had seven books commercially published – all non-fiction, including two biographies. I’ve also been successful in a number of short fiction competitions. You can see a few of these titles below, along with purchase options. I also dabble in poetry.

Perhaps because of my professional involvement in adult learning and development across the life-span, I’ve long been interested in what makes people ‘tick’. What is it that drives them, excites them? How do they react to the ups and downs of life, including sustaining relationships with family and friends? How do they respond to the world around them?

These are the sorts of themes you might see in my books and short stories. Or you might detect themes I haven’t been aware of myself!

I’m a great believer in persistence over brilliance to get you where you want to go in writing and in education, i.e. stick at it and you’ll get it done. I also believe you can teach an old dog new tricks, including with technology. But the old dog has to want to learn, and may need support along the way.

I hope you enjoy exploring my blog. Feel free to send a comment using the icon on the first page or ask a question.

Darryl Dymock
The photo at the top of this page was taken by one of my grandsons, Baxter Clark, in front of an image at an exhibition at the Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston, Tasmania.

Selected recent publications

Editor: Offcuts 3: More Stories and Sketches from the Shed, 2024, Oxley Men’s Shed Writers Group (Armour Books).

Biography: A Great and Restless Spirit: The incredible true story of Harry Hawker, 2022 (Armour Books).

History: The Chalkies: Educating an Army for Independence, 2016 (Australian Scholarly Publishing).

Biography: Hustling Hinkler: The short tumultuous life of a trailblazing Australian aviator, 2013 (Hachette Australia) – selected for the Queensland Writers Centre/Hachette Manuscript Development Program.

Self-help: Extending your Use-by Date: Why retirement age is only a number, 2013 (Xoum/Brie).


Short fiction achievements include: winning the 2016 Roly Sussex Short Story Award and being shortlisted and published in the 2019 Margaret River Short Story Competition. I’ve also been published in other collections, and have written for Griffith Review, the Brisbane Courier-Mail’s QWeekend magazine, the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s ‘History Page’, and for The Conversation.

Selected recent academic publications
Retaining teachers and trainers in vocational education and training (VET): motivating career-changers to remain as VET educators
M Tyler, D Dymock, Anh Hai Le, 2024
Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 29(2), 281–301. 
 
Supporting worklife learning at work to sustain employability
AH Le, S Billett, S Choy, D Dymock, 2023
International Journal of Training and Development 27 (1), 135-155.

S Billett, D Dymock, S Hodge, S Choy, AH Le, 2022
The standing of vocational education and the occupations it serves, Springer, Netherlands.

Attracting Industry Experts to Become VET Practitioners: A Journey, Not a Destination. Research Report.
M Tyler, D Dymock, 2021
National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).

Constructing a professional identity in VET: teacher perspectives
MA Tyler, D Dymock, 2021
Research in Post-Compulsory Education 26 (1), 1-18.

Educating Australian adults in an era of social and economic change.
S Billett, D Dymock, 2020
Australian Journal of Adult Learning 60 (3), 399-422.

Maintaining industry and pedagogical currency in VET: practitioners’ voices
M Tyler, D Dymock, 2019
International Journal of Training Research 17 (1), 4-20.

Towards a more systematic approach to continuing professional development in vocational education and training
D Dymock, M Tyler, 2018
Studies in Continuing Education 40 (2), 198-211.

Educating soldier-citizens: conscripted teachers in Papua New Guinea 1966-1973
D Dymock, 2017
International Journal of Lifelong Education 36 (3), 359-372.


 

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