Ghengis, the difference being that as a CRI you have only been taught how to teach small elements from the PPL sylabus unlike and FI who is taught to teach it from end to end.
I accept that, but tailwheel (where rudder use and how to land is really quite fundamental) is part and parcel of CRI flying and a lot of what I have done to date. Plus I'm really talking about teaching principles here, not the specifics of use of the pedals.
I am not criticising the instructor apparently flying the rudder (as you say, we don't know the whole picture), or at-least following through - I am criticising the level of understanding that the student has been allowed to achieve - where he thinks he's close to solo, but does not apparently know what he should be doing with the rudder pedals and how the nosewheel is mechanised.
I will criticise roundly any instructor who has allowed a student to get as far as circuits without having read and understood the POH for the aeroplane, and think I'm on pretty sound grounds in doing so. I know the C152 POH - as I'm sure do most of us here, it's pretty clear and well written on how the controls mechanise.
G