Tend to agree with Capt. Homesick. Any training organisation, or airline for that matter should have regular standards meetings in order to address issues just like this.
"Remaining within gliding distance" could be perceived as somewhat nebulous. What does your Ops Manual state?
You could possibly identify key geographical features in the circuit area that may be of use to both the student and instructor, but the problem with that is it is only applicable at that airfield. You have to start somewhere, though.
Class-e, you wrote that you were told to follow an A/C, so I assume you were in Controlled Airspace. Did the other instructor consider the implications of a wide circuit vs adjacent airspace? If one was to 'go wide' at somewhere like YSBK (Oz), they could be either in a busy CTR, an active Army firing range, or in the middle of a busy arrival route. A 105 Howitzer shell through the windscreen is not a good look.
