diff --git a/lib/form/editor.php b/lib/form/editor.php
index aa412d0c11d..dc68ec5402b 100644
--- a/lib/form/editor.php
+++ b/lib/form/editor.php
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ require_once($CFG->dirroot.'/repository/lib.php');
 //  * ajax format conversion
 
 class MoodleQuickForm_editor extends HTML_QuickForm_element {
-    protected $_helpbutton = '';
+    public $_helpbutton = '';
     protected $_options    = array('subdirs'=>0, 'maxbytes'=>0, 'maxfiles'=>0, 'changeformat'=>0,
                                    'context'=>null, 'noclean'=>0, 'trusttext'=>0);
     protected $_values     = array('text'=>null, 'format'=>null, 'itemid'=>null);
diff --git a/lib/form/filemanager.php b/lib/form/filemanager.php
index ebb27a05fef..cc847d7e4b0 100644
--- a/lib/form/filemanager.php
+++ b/lib/form/filemanager.php
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ require_once('HTML/QuickForm/element.php');
 require_once($CFG->dirroot.'/lib/filelib.php');
 
 class MoodleQuickForm_filemanager extends HTML_QuickForm_element {
-    protected $_helpbutton = '';
+    public $_helpbutton = '';
     protected $_options    = array('subdirs'=>0, 'maxbytes'=>0, 'maxfiles'=>-1, 'filetypes'=>'*', 'returnvalue'=>'*');
 
     function MoodleQuickForm_filemanager($elementName=null, $elementLabel=null, $attributes=null, $options=null) {
diff --git a/lib/form/filepicker.php b/lib/form/filepicker.php
index 90e2d6aec06..092bcf75837 100644
--- a/lib/form/filepicker.php
+++ b/lib/form/filepicker.php
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ require_once($CFG->dirroot.'/repository/lib.php');
  * @access       public
  */
 class MoodleQuickForm_filepicker extends HTML_QuickForm_input {
-    protected $_helpbutton = '';
+    public $_helpbutton = '';
     protected $_options    = array('maxbytes'=>0, 'filetypes'=>'*', 'returnvalue'=>'*');
 
     function MoodleQuickForm_filepicker($elementName=null, $elementLabel=null, $attributes=null, $options=null) {