converting html entities back to html

I have run into a problem where FCKeditor converts all html entities entered in the editor back to the html equivalent.

eg:
I enter the following into the editor:

test
<b>another test</b>

... and then when I post the form to itself, the textarea displays:

<b>test</b>
&lt;b&gt;another test&lt;/b&gt;

but the actual editor now shows:

test
another test

If a user enters a '<' in the editor, I would like the editor to keep it as '&lt;'..

I would really appreciate any assistance here; have spent most of the day battling with this
I'm currently using the latest version of FCKeditor via the javascript implementation.