Just 2.74 per cent of ACT school students aged 15 to 19 were enrolled in school-based apprenticeships in 2012, slightly below the national average of 2.8 per cent, the most recent National Centre for Vocational Education Research data reveals.

Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley met a panel of Canberra education and training experts on Friday to discuss ways of removing the barriers for schools, training organisations and employers to increase the number of school-based apprentices.

The discussion was the final of eight across the country before the national vocational and training in schools framework is overhauled.

"For students who are better suited to a vocational pathway, rather than university, we need to do more to value that pathway," Ms Ley said.

"Too often the message is its second rate, second class, a drop down. In fact, its none of these things. It's just as valuable as university to do a trade or traineeship."

Dickson College principal Kerrie Heath agreed and said school-based apprenticeships were undersold.

"In the ACT, you can undertake a school-based apprenticeship and be doing a tertiary package at school so at the end of your year 12 you have every option available to you," she said.

Master Builders Association group training general manager Wendy Tengstrom said apprentices trained by the organisation often went on to study further and gain university qualifications.

"Choosing a trade doesn't eliminate university ... but some people want to be on the tools; they want to be out in the open-air building something new and I don't see anything wrong with that," she said.

Ms Heath blamed the low uptake of school-based apprenticeships on the wide range of subject choices for ACT students.

Ms Ley said school-based apprentices paid at the award wage were often a more expensive option for employers and the students spent less time in the workplace while juggling school.

But Ms Tengstrom said any reluctance by employers to take on school-based apprentices was more likely because of the downturn in the building industry.

She said school-based training helped reduce the drop-out rate of full-time apprentices.

"They get placed on job sites, so when they leave year 12 they can make a really informed decision as to whether they want to be in our industry or not," she said.

"Our retention rate is probably 90 per cent."

Although the "hand skills" of school-based apprentices were sometimes behind that of their peers when they began full-time work, Ms Tengstrom said they were ahead with theory.

Ms Heath said it could be challenging for school students to juggle vocational training with the rest of their study, but school-based apprentices had their plans "custom-fitted".

"It very much depends on that coming together of the expertise of the people in the school, the goodwill of the employer and the student's commitment," she said.

To minimise the disruption for school-based apprentices and their employers, Ms Tengstrom said the Master Builders Association trained them in evenings, so the students only spent one day away from school.

Although pay rates were often seen as a deterrent to choosing a career in the trades, Ms Ley said fully qualified tradespeople often earned more than university graduates.

"The money is important ... but it's also about finding a young person's passion and not asking them to plan their life when they leave school," she said.