The originality of this work is to have sought to understand Freinet pedagogy on the basis of methods of observing and investigating anthropology, and more particularly in one of its most significant practices: free text. The theoretical tools used by the author are mainly those of textual genetics, but the most important thing is: adopt what anthropologists call the ‘indigenous perspective’, that is to say, what happens when a child writes a text, why, at what point in time, what does it expect, how does it begin? In the various chapters, Pierre Clanché also referred to Tolstoï, Münch, precursors to the free text, or Wittgenstein, and studied writing situations ranging from primary school to second class.