FKA Children's Services (formerly, the Free Kindergarten Association of Victoria inc. and the Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria) has a long history of achievement in the provision of early childhood services. The earliest official record of the Free Kindergarten Union (FKU) is in the minutes of a meeting on 9^th October 1908. It refers to a group of interested women who called themselves 'delegates'. They included Mrs Alfred Deakin, wife of the Prime Minister, whom the meeting elected provisional President. Four free kindergartens in Melbourne were the first affiliated with the FKU. By 1965 there were 76 affiliated kindergartens. The local committees were responsible for furnishing and equipping the premises. The FKU assisted with other funds and provided support with the programs.

 

The educational aim of the movement, which existed alongside the philanthropic aim, necessitated the provision of trained kindergarten teachers. The heavy task of training kindergarten teachers was tackled by the FKU almost from its inception, with a strong emphasis on the need for high quality. In 1916, the FKU established the first Victorian Kindergarten Training College. This training college continued until the FKU granted autonomy to the College Council in 1965. It then became the Melbourne Kindergarten Teachers College, later the I.E.C.D. and is now part of the University of Melbourne.

 

Many of the Kindergartens affiliated with the FKU were in the inner suburbs of Melbourne and during 1930s, the FKU urged people and governments to support the development of kindergartens, particularly those in disadvantaged areas, so that children would be in clean, caring educational environments. The FKU was a pressure group for the value of preschool education and for adequate government funding.

 

As a voluntary organisation the FKU pioneered a number of innovative initiatives including, the training of teachers, medical and dental inspection of preschool children, and the funding of kindergartens and their staff. Due to the fighting spirit of the committees and staff who have gone before, and their concern for children in the community, the FKA Children’s Services (FKACS) as the organisation is now known, provides a range of services to kindergartens and child care services throughout Victoria today.

 

FKACS have responded to the emerging needs in children’s services. In 1978 our Multicultural Resource Centre was opened in response to patterns of immigration, highlighting the need to provide support to early childhood services for children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds attending children’s services. 

 

 In 2009, FKACS has a team of experienced Children’s Services Consultants with qualifications and experience in early childhood development.

 

Our bicultural program includes over 200 bilingual staff speaking more than one hundred languages and dialects. We hold an EXPO for early childhood professionals every two years. On the 26^th October 2009, we held a very successful Futures for Children Forum at the Melbourne Arts Centre at which the Governor General, her Excellency Quentin Bryce AC, provided the welcome address. A further conference is planned for 2010.

 

FKACS receives government funding to provide services including bicultural support, language services and training to children’s services staff in Victoria. We have an onsite library, online borrowing facilities and a Mobile Resource Service (MRS).  The MRS travels to children’s services in rural and metropolitan Victoria to provide onsite borrowing and consultancy to centres as well as offering bookshop items for purchase. Our onsite bookshop has a range of culturally diverse resources and materials in English and community languages. A variety of books and toys from other publishers and suppliers are also available. We also receive funding from the provision of Fee For Service training in Victoria and interstate, membership fees and fundraising.