instructor knows they can make the field, to instill confidence in the student the instructor allows student to make the force landing, whilst keeping a watching brief as things progress.
An excellent point. I've been happy to do this for a student, and certainly the recipient during my life long training. Another aspect is that it's also good "crew resource management" (such as it is with a student as the other crew member). The more experienced pilot can actually do a few other important things, while monitoring, rather than assuming all the workload.
I am a Grade 1 ME IFR instructor (grade 1 is th highest level of instructor rating in Australia). I train other instructors.Trust what I say. I am an expert in the field.
About 45 years ago, I though I was an expert in a tiny, unimportant field of interest. I told someone that. I was wrong, and they promptly told me. I have never used that word to refer to my skills since - because I'm not, I'm still learning, even from people here.
I had a test flight to fly on a club airplane following an unusual repair. Their rules say that I have to take an instructor with me, as they're calling it a checkout flight. No problem... They send a proud ('cause he tells me) Class 1 to ride with me. After I have completed all my testing, and the plane is fine, I ask if there's anything he wants to see for my "checkout". He says, well.... your really have done everything already..... except a practice forced approach. I arrive to the circuit, it's empty, and I announce a practice forced approach over the runway intersections. I run my cause checks, and commit to a landing, as I have a suitable runway. As I slip in around base and final, I announce that I will clear at the intersection (which mean aiming a little further down the runway than would be normal), and that's where I roll off. As I taxi in, he asked "how did you do that!?". I explained. He asked if I'd teach him how to do that. Um, I probably shouldn't, I'm not an instructor, and I don't work here.....