Analysis of the Contents of the “Draft of the Preschool Education Law of the People’s Republic Of China (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)” Based on the ROST CM6.0 Content Mining System

Abstract: Taking the text of the “Draft of the Preschool Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)” released in September 2020 as the object of research, this article took a content analysis method and used the text analysis software of the ROST CM6.0 content mining system to analyze the text’s keywords, core terms and specific content. It discussed in depth the draft law’s response to restraints on the development of preschool education in China, addressing core issues such as the provision of resources in preschool education, government coordination mechanisms, and the improvement of preschool education quality. It emphasized the supply side as the starting point to standardize and expand the supply of resources for preschool education. It put needs at the core, together with guaranteeing the basics, focusing points, and paying attention to the quality of preschool education. It took the clarification of powers and responsibilities as a foothold, and a mechanism that runs through the development of preschool education. By analyzing the value positions behind the draft, it found that it taking people-centered, child-oriented, quality-based, government-led, and putting the disadvantaged first as the value standpoint. It then provided support for the reasonable interpretation and promotion of the improvement of the draft. However, the draft also reflected some problems, such as the excessive use of the term of principle “should,” the lack of necessary procedural content in some items, and the insufficient response to conflicts in value positions between different stakeholders. Based on this, the article proposed some suggestions for revising the draft: to rely on the cooperation of different teams to highlight the rule of law; to grasp the core benchmark based on the feedback of interest groups; and to highlight the macro perspective based on the national development strategy.