I also think that EOLs should be part of the PPL syllabus. My instructor seemed to be quite fond of them (along with tail rotor failure landings) but was always v. careful to make sure that the wind was around 10 kts and always covered the controls. Sometimes, when I thought an EOL went particularly well, he would say "That was mostly me!". That final bit of flare, flare, check, level is a bit hairy at first and I think it should be taught otherwise in a real situation, it would be so easy to panic even though the skills should be there.
Cheers
Whirlygig