VFR,
I was under the impression that the 'instrument awareness' training was never designed to offer reduced personal minima or encourage 'confidence to go nearer or even flirt with the soft wispy veiled stuff'.
My understanding is that it hopes to give a low hour PPL(H) a fighting chance if they encounter I-IMC and prevent the very incident discussed in this thread.
If one or two pilots become overly confident due to this training then we can review their actions in the next AAIB report, however the overall benefit of this additional training on a new PPL(H) must outweigh this.
Head Bolt,
It's good to hear a voice of reason is still in a position of authority and influence. Too many low hour FI's regurgitating text book training having had almost no more 'instrument awareness' than their students!.......And certainly no practical experience of attempting a rate-one under stress.!