IMHO - No, I think what your instructor did sounds entirely reasonable. In order to teach the basic IF element in the PPL syllabus, you do not have to hold an IRI qualification - any FI can teach it. However, your instructor would obviously have had to be the holder of a current IR (or IMC, if in the UK) in order to actually fly in cloud during the lesson - but that is a separate issue.
Personally, if the circumstances present themselves appropriately, I think it's actually a very good thing to fly in real cloud. It is a different experience when you don't have the chance of peering out of the corners of the dreaded foggles/hood/poorly fitting aircraft screens!