I think it was later than that. Glide approaches were taught to me as being the norm in the 1970's. Still the best way; with power for those who can't judge it properly, as I was taught, or who wish to land very short.
At some point the training reversed to make power the norm. Hence the daft size circuits. Perhaps it was after the CAA, with their fine minds, made a CPL a requirement for instructing. Then students had to pretend they were flying the airliner the instructor probably thought he ought to be flying.
The owner of what was the finest flying club in the world used to say that the three most useless things in a light aircraft were, a step ladder a stiff broom and a commercial pilot. I make no comment about that.