Sounds quite disturbing to me! Is this in the UK?
15 years ago I did the training (& passed the test) for the then CAA CPL GFT. The airborne checks were identical to the ones used for PPL training at the time (only more precision required). I do a 6-month check still to retain currency on our PA28. I use the same checks with different instructors that I was taught over 23 years ago and they seem quite satisfactory to all of them.
My personal opinion is that it is almost insane NOT to have, as the FIRST action in a single, upon an engine failure, the selection of the best glide speed. I was taught, for the PA28, to rack the trim back 4 turns; this would give a trimmed speed of about 75kt if you were flying trimmed out in the cruise. This significantly increases your ability to find the best place to land (or crash and survive). Then pick a field (or series of fields if high enough). Then find out if there's a simple cause for the failure (work from left to right, fuel, mags, throttle, mixture, carb heat). If no rectification possible, make MAYDAY call, all the while flying the a/c to make good an approach to mid-point of your chosen field. Be prepared to pick a different one. On short final, mixture ICO, electrics off, full flap to bring aiming point to beginning of field, fly it as far into the crash as possible. Brief pax again to brace.
One old CFI told me that he expected us to be good enough with a forced landing that the a/c would be capable of being flown out of the field again once the problem was fixed, but most have said 'you're flying to save your life. If you walk away from it, you made an excellent forced landing'.
All of this was good enough for a CAA CPL examiner. Perhaps we're getting a partial story here, but this CFI does rather seem to be the only soldier in the army who is in step. I'd like to see more justification for missing big chunks out and changing things around.
As a CFI and examiner, I assume they would have to satisfy the CAA that what they were teaching was in accordance with current practices.
It all seems very strange...
Cheers,
The Odd One