I was recently assigned a student with about 50hrs total time in an effort to get him through his Private end of course checkride. I've spent about 8hrs with him in a 172, I finished his dual cross country flights and sent him on his solo xc's. Those xc's went fine and he passed his Stage 2 checkride. His flying skills are not terrible, but his procedure is. He cannot remember the PTS for the manuevers and sometimes forgets how to perform some of the most basic; stalls, short/soft field, etc. His knowledge is there but I have to DRAG it out of him. He's not confident.
Most recently, I've noticed something terrifying that I have to get him to overcome. I don't think he can make decisions on his own. If I ask him to perform a maneuver, he asks me about the procedure ("soft field, that's the one where we keep the nose up, right?"), or hesitates. It seems like he wont do anything without prompting. He even looks for non verbal prompts; if I look outside, he says "Oh! I have to do a procedure turn!", if I open my sectional, he opens his sectional.
My next lesson is a local flight with him. I'm planning on giving him a list of things to do during the flight (perform short and soft field takeoffs and landings at a non-towered airport, stalls, steep turns, etc.) and the entire time just sit on my hands, eyes forward, mouth shut. I need to get him to understand what PIC means.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.