diff --git a/lang/en/form.php b/lang/en/form.php
index d926cd28c0573..d5f2c6c6b2aa6 100644
--- a/lang/en/form.php
+++ b/lang/en/form.php
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 $string['err_required'] = 'You must supply a value here.';
 $string['general'] = 'General';
 $string['hideadvanced'] = 'Hide advanced';
+$string['hideeditortoolbar'] = 'Hide editing tools';
 $string['hour'] = 'Hour';
 $string['minute'] = 'Minute';
 $string['miscellaneoussettings'] = 'Miscellaneous settings';
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@
 $string['selectallornone'] = 'Select all/none';
 $string['selected'] = 'Selected';
 $string['showadvanced'] = 'Show advanced';
+$string['showeditortoolbar'] = 'Show editing tools';
 $string['somefieldsrequired'] = 'There are required fields in this form marked {$a}.';
 $string['time'] = 'Time';
 $string['timeunit'] = 'Time unit';
diff --git a/lib/editor/tinymce/editor_styles.css b/lib/editor/tinymce/editor_styles.css
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d1d..0000000000000
diff --git a/lib/editor/tinymce/lib.php b/lib/editor/tinymce/lib.php
index ede90a5c7919d..bf286caa7253f 100644
--- a/lib/editor/tinymce/lib.php
+++ b/lib/editor/tinymce/lib.php
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ public function use_editor($elementid, array $options=null, $fpoptions=null) {
         if ($fpoptions) {
             $PAGE->requires->js_init_call('M.editor_tinymce.init_filepicker', array($elementid, $fpoptions), true);
         }
+        $this->initialise_collapse_js();
     }
 
     protected function get_init_params($elementid, array $options=null) {
@@ -274,4 +275,27 @@ public function get_tinymce_base_url() {
         global $CFG;
         return new moodle_url("$CFG->httpswwwroot/lib/editor/tinymce/tiny_mce/$this->version/");
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Initialise javascript form elements
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function initialise_collapse_js() {
+        global $CFG, $PAGE, $OUTPUT;
+
+        // This method is called for every editor instance. Ensure it's only run once.
+        // Static is a clunky solution but the best we could find to keep everything simple and encapsulated.
+        static $is_initialised;
+
+        if ($is_initialised) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        // Initialise language strings.
+        $PAGE->requires->strings_for_js(array('hideeditortoolbar', 'showeditortoolbar'),
+                'form');
+
+        $PAGE->requires->yui_module('moodle-editor_tinymce-collapse', 'M.editor_collapse.init');
+        $is_initialised = true;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/lib/editor/tinymce/styles.css b/lib/editor/tinymce/styles.css
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f6214988d87a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/editor/tinymce/styles.css
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+.mform .felement.feditor .toggle_editor_toolbar {background: #EEEEEE;border-color: #BBBBBB;border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0;border-style: solid solid none;border-width: 1px 1px 0;display: inline-block;font-size: 0.7em;padding: 3px 6px;width: 9em;}
+.mform .felement.feditor .mceStatusbar,
+.mform .felement.feditor iframe {min-width: 35em;}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/editor/tinymce/yui/collapse/collapse.js b/lib/editor/tinymce/yui/collapse/collapse.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ea68c0d693c4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/editor/tinymce/yui/collapse/collapse.js
@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+YUI.add('moodle-editor_tinymce-collapse', function(Y) {
+
+    var COLLAPSE = function() {
+        COLLAPSE.superclass.constructor.apply(this, arguments);
+    };
+
+    Y.extend(COLLAPSE, Y.Base, {
+
+        toggleNodeTemplate : null,
+        /**
+         * Set up basic values for static access.
+         */
+        init : function() {
+            this.initialise_toggles(10);
+        },
+
+        /**
+         * Has TinyMCE been loaded and the editors been initialised?
+         * Designed mainly for IE
+         * @return bool
+         */
+        editors_initialised : function() {
+            return typeof tinyMCE !== 'undefined';
+        },
+
+        initialise_toggles : function(refreshes) {
+            var editors_initialised = this.editors_initialised(), self = this, editor;
+            if (!editors_initialised && refreshes) {
+                setTimeout(function() {
+                        self.initialise_toggles(refreshes - 1);
+                    }, 100);
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Create the toggle template for use later
+            this.toggleNodeTemplate = Y.Node.create('<a class="toggle_editor_toolbar" />');
+            this.toggleNodeTemplate.setContent(M.util.get_string('showeditortoolbar', 'form'));
+
+            // Delegate clicks of the toggle_editor_toolbar
+            Y.one('body').delegate('click', this.toggle_collapse_from_event, 'a.toggle_editor_toolbar', this);
+
+            // Set up editors which have already been created
+            for (editor in tinyMCE.editors) {
+                this.setup_collapse(tinyMCE.editors[editor]);
+            }
+
+            // Set up for future editors.
+            // I haven't yet found a way of directly delegating the editor.onInit event. Instead we have to listen for the
+            // tinyMCE.onAddEditor event, and then add a further event listener to the editor's onInit event.
+            // onAddEditor is triggered before the editor has been created.
+            // We use Y.Bind to ensure that context is maintained.
+            tinyMCE.onAddEditor.add(Y.bind(this.add_setup_collapse_listener, this));
+
+        },
+
+        /**
+         * Setup a listener for a new editor which will actually set the editor up
+         * @param {Manager} mgr
+         * @param {Editor} ed
+         */
+        add_setup_collapse_listener : function (mgr, ed) {
+            // Bind the editor.onInit function to set this editor up. This ensures we maintain our context (this)
+            ed.onInit.add(Y.bind(this.setup_collapse, this));
+        },
+
+        /**
+         * Setup the toggle system for the provided editor
+         *
+         * @param {Editor} ed The TinyMCE editor instance
+         */
+        setup_collapse : function(ed) {
+            var textarea = Y.Node(ed.getElement()),
+                editortable = Y.Node(ed.getContainer()).one('> table'),
+                thisToggleNode;
+
+            // Does this text area support collapsing at all?
+            if (!textarea.hasClass('collapsible')) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Did we find an appropriate table to work with
+            if (!editortable) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Add toggle button.
+            thisToggleNode = this.toggleNodeTemplate.cloneNode(true);
+            editortable.get('parentNode').insert(thisToggleNode, editortable);
+
+            // Toggle the toolbars initially.
+            if (Y.Node(ed.getElement()).hasClass('collapsed')) {
+                this.toggle_collapse(thisToggleNode, editortable, 0);
+            } else {
+                this.toggle_collapse(thisToggleNode, editortable, 1);
+            }
+        },
+
+        /**
+         * Toggle the specified editor toolbars.
+         *
+         * @param {Node} button The toggle button which we have to change the text for
+         * @param {Node} editortable The table which the tinyMCE editor is in
+         * @param {Boolean} newstate The intended toggle state
+         */
+        toggle_collapse : function(button, editortable, newstate) {
+            var toolbar = editortable.one('td.mceToolbar').ancestor('tr'),
+                statusbar = editortable.one('.mceStatusbar').ancestor('tr'),
+                editor, iframe, size;
+
+            // Check whether we have a state already.
+            if (typeof newstate === 'undefined') {
+                if (toolbar.getStyle('display') === 'none') {
+                    newstate = 1;
+                } else {
+                    newstate = 0;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Toggle the various states and update the button text to suit
+            if (newstate === 0) {
+                toolbar.hide();
+                statusbar.hide();
+                button.setContent(M.util.get_string('showeditortoolbar', 'form'));
+            } else {
+                toolbar.show();
+                statusbar.show();
+                button.setContent(M.util.get_string('hideeditortoolbar', 'form'));
+            }
+
+            // TinyMCE renders the toolbar and path bar as part of the textarea. So toggling these items
+            // changes the required size of the rendered textarea. Frustrating but it's the way it's built.
+            // So we get TinyMCE to resize itself for us. Clunky but it works.
+
+            // Get the tinyMCE editor object for this text area.
+            editorid = editortable.ancestor('div').one('textarea').get('id');
+            editor = tinyMCE.getInstanceById(editorid);
+
+            // Somehow, this editor did not exist.
+            if (!editor) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Resize editor to reflect presence of toolbar and path bar..
+            iframe = editor.getBody();
+            if (iframe) {
+                size = tinymce.DOM.getSize(iframe);
+                // If objects exist resize editor.
+                if (size) {
+                    editor.theme.resizeTo(size.w, size.h);
+                }
+            }
+        },
+
+        toggle_collapse_from_event : function(thisevent) {
+            var button = thisevent.target.ancestor('a', true),
+                editortable = thisevent.target.ancestor('span', true).one('table.mceLayout');
+            this.toggle_collapse(button, editortable);
+        }
+    });
+
+    M.editor_collapse = M.editor_collapse || {};
+    M.editor_collapse.init = function(params) {
+        return new COLLAPSE(params);
+    };
+
+}, '@VERSION@', {requires:['base', 'node', 'dom']});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/form/editor.php b/lib/form/editor.php
index bd04b222f3601..baf0c326f615f 100644
--- a/lib/form/editor.php
+++ b/lib/form/editor.php
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class MoodleQuickForm_editor extends HTML_QuickForm_element {
     /** @var array options provided to initalize filepicker */
     protected $_options = array('subdirs' => 0, 'maxbytes' => 0, 'maxfiles' => 0, 'changeformat' => 0,
             'areamaxbytes' => FILE_AREA_MAX_BYTES_UNLIMITED, 'context' => null, 'noclean' => 0, 'trusttext' => 0,
-            'return_types' => 7);
+            'return_types' => 7, 'collapsible'=>0, 'collapsed' => 0);
     // $_options['return_types'] = FILE_INTERNAL | FILE_EXTERNAL | FILE_REFERENCE
 
     /** @var array values for editor */
@@ -383,7 +383,17 @@ function toHtml() {
         if (!is_null($this->getAttribute('onblur')) && !is_null($this->getAttribute('onchange'))) {
             $editorrules = ' onblur="'.htmlspecialchars($this->getAttribute('onblur')).'" onchange="'.htmlspecialchars($this->getAttribute('onchange')).'"';
         }
-        $str .= '<div><textarea id="'.$id.'" name="'.$elname.'[text]" rows="'.$rows.'" cols="'.$cols.'"'.$editorrules.'>';
+        $str .= '<div><textarea id="'.$id.'" name="'.$elname.'[text]" rows="'.$rows.'" cols="'.$cols.'"';
+        $classes = array();
+        if (isset($this->_options['collapsed']) && $this->_options['collapsed']) {
+            $this->_options['collapsible'] = 1;
+            $classes[] = 'collapsed';
+        }
+        if (isset($this->_options['collapsible']) && $this->_options['collapsible']) {
+            $classes[] = 'collapsible';
+        }
+        $str .= ' class="' . implode(' ', $classes) . '"';
+        $str .= $editorrules.'>';
         $str .= s($text);
         $str .= '</textarea></div>';
 
@@ -439,4 +449,5 @@ function getFrozenHtml() {
 
         return '';
     }
+
 }
diff --git a/question/type/edit_question_form.php b/question/type/edit_question_form.php
index da8ad92d77e27..270f32700886f 100644
--- a/question/type/edit_question_form.php
+++ b/question/type/edit_question_form.php
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ public function __construct($submiturl, $question, $category, $contexts, $formed
         $this->context = context::instance_by_id($record->contextid);
 
         $this->editoroptions = array('subdirs' => 1, 'maxfiles' => EDITOR_UNLIMITED_FILES,
-                'context' => $this->context);
+                'context' => $this->context, 'collapsed' => 1);
         $this->fileoptions = array('subdirs' => 1, 'maxfiles' => -1, 'maxbytes' => -1);
 
         $this->category = $category;
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ protected function definition() {
         $mform->addRule('name', null, 'required', null, 'client');
 
         $mform->addElement('editor', 'questiontext', get_string('questiontext', 'question'),
-                array('rows' => 15), $this->editoroptions);
+                array('rows' => 15), $this->get_non_collabsible_editor_options());
         $mform->setType('questiontext', PARAM_RAW);
 
         $mform->addElement('text', 'defaultmark', get_string('defaultmark', 'question'),
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ protected function definition() {
         $mform->addRule('defaultmark', null, 'required', null, 'client');
 
         $mform->addElement('editor', 'generalfeedback', get_string('generalfeedback', 'question'),
-                array('rows' => 10), $this->editoroptions);
+                array('rows' => 10), $this->get_non_collabsible_editor_options());
         $mform->setType('generalfeedback', PARAM_RAW);
         $mform->addHelpButton('generalfeedback', 'generalfeedback', 'question');
 
@@ -673,4 +673,8 @@ public function validation($fromform, $files) {
      *      in the question type class.
      */
     public abstract function qtype();
+
+    protected function get_non_collabsible_editor_options() {
+        return array_merge($this->editoroptions, array('collapsed' => 0));
+    }
 }