Zac Shearer has made a great living climbing trees.
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Now one of the nation's best tree climbers is teaching TAFE Yallah students how to assess tree health and safely climb the tallest trees.
Not too long ago Mr Shearer had a swag of medals hanging from his harness, having won among other titles the Victorian Open Grade Tree Climbing Championship.
Also ranked fifth in Belgium and finishing in the top 10 in the Australian Competitive Tree Climbing Championships, the now arborist teacher is sharing his experience with Certificate III in Arboriculture students.
Mr Shearer started teaching last year and his advanced standing in the industry is becoming a drawcard for budding arborists from across the country.
"My students learn plant identification, assessment of tree health, learn how to climb safely using aerial rigging, use specialist machinery and safe chemical use," he said.
"It's an enjoyable career, it pays well and, when qualified, graduates will have skills that can be used all over the world. I have 10 years climbing experience working in Australia, Belgium, Germany and London.
"In my peak, when I was subcontracting, I was often given the most difficult trees to work on. At one point I was spending about 30 hours a week in a harness."
The timing is good for Mr Shearer's students who are learning from one of the industry's best and becoming qualified in a sector experiencing a growing demand for employees.
Garden services are forecast to grow over the next five years due to an ageing population, growth in housing and a trend in businesses outsourcing non-core services.
As well as completing the theory, students are required to undertake 400 hours of practical hands-on training gain their qualification.
This includes TAFE NSW Yallah Arboriculture students helping schools in the Illawarra with tree-hazard management.
TAFE Yallah is a centre of excellence for horticultural, agriculture, animal studies, permaculture, conservation and land management.
Visit www.tafensw.edu.au or phone 131 601 for more information.