Burnley College’s principal Karen Buchanan has resigned – months after she was mysteriously suspended, FE Week can reveal.
Staff were told today that Buchanan, who has worked at the college for almost 40 years, has officially stood down.
Buchanan left in March ahead of an Ofsted inspection for “personal reasons”. The college later announced she had been suspended pending an investigation. The reasons for her departure have still not been disclosed.
Burnley College today confirmed to FE Week that Buchanan has resigned from her position and “is currently serving her notice”.
The spokesperson added: “We naturally cannot comment on that investigation whilst it is ongoing.”
University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady said: “Karen Buchanan’s exit from Burnley College cannot come soon enough, but the new senior leadership team has much to do to restore the workforce’s faith.
“The investigation must be comprehensive, and its findings made public, including the real reason for the principal’s departure. Until then, staff will rightly remain concerned about the strategic leadership of the college.”
Staff representatives previously told FE Week they were “left in the dark” about who was running the college.
The college later confirmed they had appointed deputy principal Kate Wallace as interim principal.
In a statement released last month, the college said Buchanan had been suspended, stressing that the move was “in line with its normal policies and procedures to ensure a fair and transparent process”.
Buchanan began working at Burnley College in 1986 as a part-time lecturer and became deputy principal in 2011 before leading the college in 2018.
The 10,000-student college is in a financially healthy position according to its latest 2023-24 accounts, which show a £1.9 million surplus, £21.5 million in reserves and an ‘outstanding’ financial health rating.
Almost 700 people are employed at the college which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in 2021, and last year self-assessed as ‘outstanding’ on the watchdog’s scale.
Its 2025 inspection outcome has not yet been published.
Burnley College boasts on its website that it is the “number one” college in England for 16 to 18 achievement rates on the government’s most recently published achievement rates table in March 2024, and claims to have held the position since 2018.
Burnley College was approached for comment.
Why has the inspection report still not been published? Is this the Ofsted tactic of waiting to publish when everyone is on holiday so there is less impact of the report in the local papers? This is why there is so little respect for Ofsted. If the college was inspected properly the report should have been published after five weeks. The staff deserve to know what is happening.
It has been published. Good and Outstanding for nearly everything… but… “requires improvement” on the leadership part. But the summer holiday starts next week for colleges so this will cause a lot of staff to have a bad summer.
I can tell you what’s going to happen – the leadership team are going to go insane with paperwork. Come up with all sorts of ideas. But who will have to sort out the paperwork? The teachers. I know this from experience as I worked with a college which had good for all the parts except the leadership!
I am utterly lost, surely the deputy also knew of these issues…All of the leadership team would have been aware. Most of them should be accountable.