"I'm well past it now but I still think the benefit of spin training is to raise the awareness level, as you say -- to recognise the situations in which it can occur, and the wing-drop before the spin itself.! (Geriavaitor)
I entirely agree. Spinning itself is fine as a demonstration, but the main point is to get pilots to recognise when the aircraft is about to bite you and spin if you don't do something to sort it !
In sailplanes we fly close to the stall much more frequently than power pilots, so I spent a lot of time with gliding pupils flying near the stall, feeling the buffet and general sloppiness of controls so an almost automatic recovery to normal was likely even when distracted.
(When at height in wave, playing around like that, sometimes letting a wing drop and then picking it up with rudder was a good exercise to help develop confidence and some finesse. Some two seaters can do a fair 'falling leaf' that way. I know picking the wing up with rudder is no longer taught routinely, but at height, in the right conditions, it's still a useful exercise.)