Thanks for your very helpful responses.
The picture that I am forming is that there is good reason to teach students to land a little into the field initially (i.e. if the engine quits, the landing is made), but that they need to develop more control as their flying progresses and they wish to land in less forgiving fields. Possibly this includes steeper approaches and certainly tighter airspeed control.
I use 1.3vs as my final approach speed stabilised between 2-300'(63.7 kias with full flap on the PA28 I fly - rounded up to 65kias due to fortysomething eyesight!) and find that this is very comfortable. If there are more than slight controllability issues due to gusts etc., then I have chosen the wrong day to fly!
Thanks again for your kind assistance.