What needs addressing is that the vast majority of UK PPL instructors have never flown past the creases on their map.
and the rest can only do it with a GPS!!
That may be part of the problem in the UK. However, a bigger part is that most of what is handed down in the UK is folklore and nothing more.
Let's look at a very simple part - do you get the instructors to teach the ICAO Annex and point the student to the appropriate part of the AIP for the relevant differences (as per JAR / EASA) or do you require the student to study some piece of legislation written by lawyers for lawyers which means they only know the local rules and have no idea what if any will apply when in another country.
Clasic case of making the easy difficult.
It is very hard to understand why a person setting out to be a teacher in a certain discipline would from the outset wish to avoid learning much of what they will teach if they succeed in being a good teacher.
The attitude of I want to teach but do not want to learn is the start of the rot and is propogated by people who have other reasons for ensuring that they have lots of rot to complain about.
If you want a career as a secondary school teacher then why on earth would you ever need to go to university? If you want to teach at university level then why on earth can't you simply finish your degree and teach the next day - with a brief how to operate an interactive white board.
Do you want your children being taught in secondary school by someone who holds all of 1 A level or your young people being lectured at university by a person that was s student themselves last week?
That is what is considered normal practice in the UK as far as flight training is concerned.
Show me any other area where those wishing to teach approach the task with the mindset of being as minimally skilled as possible and having gained as little knowledge of the industry as possible.
If you employed an electrician you would expect them to have ample knowledge and skill covering all the aspects of electrical instalation both theory and practice. Thankfully it is impossible to qualify as such if you only learn how to wire up light switches and refuse to bother about such things as sockets - because you think that there is enough business in only wiring light switches.
Unfortunately it is not only possible to qualify in the aviation industry with substandard knowldge and limited ability, these people get to teach others. As an industry it is not only unique it is unparalled because the very people that the industry decides are not suitable to progress are the very ones that continue to teach and in many cases become examiners.
Show me another industry where the apprentice who is never going tyo progress teaches the new apprentice and tests their ability
Therefore any attempt by EASA to change the rot is only to be welcomed.
People in for example the UK need to remember that EASA is legislating for Europe and people who have seen many ways of doing things will not always think that the UK way is best.