The problems of resource allocation and management within open learning systems in colleges of further and higher education in Britain are discussed in this paper, with particular focus on the deployment of academic staff. First, the components of open learning systems are outlined; e.g., providing materials for students' private study, grading and commenting on students' work, and providing tutorial and counseling support. A discussion of the problems involved in determining the resources used in open learning systems, such as flexistudy, is followed by sections focusing on procedures for determining the number of teachers required by a college, the responsibilities of teaching staff, and methods of estimating teaching hours for flexistudy through analogies with regular programs. These estimates require a determination of the notional weekly hours, the target class size, the case load for a tutor, and the number of weeks the tutor is assigned to teach in order to develop the class contact equivalent for flexistudy programs. The next section highlights methods of determining the student-staff ratio in open learning programs and ways of ascertaining if students are "active." Finally, the paper emphasizes the importance of developing a calculus for measuring teaching hours expended in open learning systems through negotiating notional weekly hours, target class sizes, and class contact equivalents. (HB)