I was very lucky when I learned at Southend in the early 90s.
My instructor was a hours building wannabee, but his day job was in sales training in the pahrmaceutical industry and this professional background shone through very strongly, with proper pre and post flight briefing/review of the learning experience.
All in all, I was very pleased with the training and it just goes to show that a professional approach can result in a win-win outcome - hour building for him and skills transfer for me.