I learned at Sleap in '64-'65....Les Phillips was CFI aided by Bill Wyatt, Sid (?) Blakemore and of course the great Adam Wojda when he wasn't grounded by Les for yet another misdemeanour.
We did spinning, and had to demonstrate recovery from a fully developed one, but I do NOT remember being told to do a solo spin, or ever having the urge to do that.
One of Adam's many groundings was for teaching me to enter a spin in an Auster by slowing to 60KT flying straight and level, no flap, then suddenly and fast to heave the stick fully back and kick full rudder in the desired direction, then to hold that until the spin had developed, whereupon you started recovery action. I got quite good at that (was it the start of an incomplete flick roll?), but Adam got grounded once again after I had a ride with Les and he told me to spin and recover exactly as I had been taught.
Adam also got p****d off with being told to teach nice square circuits, and he had me going round doing what was very like a stall turn at each corner; "We'll show them square circuits" he said. Then he showed me how to keep the threshold in view and attainable if the engine failed when landing in an SE aircraft, steep slipping curved path from downwind to 200 ft or less on final, then slipping left and right alternately, 3-4 seconds each way. I think it was called "fish-tailing".
Grounded again; Les had eyes in the back of his head.
Sorry, thread drift; the sight of that SPL and mention of a solo spin took me back.