The 50-year-old former Northampton manager will look to steady the ship at Turf Moor following the sacking of Brian Laws.
Burnley's joint operational director Brendan Flood told the club website: "It's important that we now look forward and remain positive and firmly focused on our challenge for promotion.
"We believe we have a very good squad of players which is capable of winning these next three games.
"We now have in place a caretaker management team of experienced people who have been in this position before and are highly qualified to lead the team."