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This article examines the place of education within World’s Fairs and its progressive emergence as a matter of international concern during the 1860s and 1870s. Taking France as a case study, it particularly highlights the double function of the exhibitions’ educational sections. On the one hand, they served as a vector to promote national achievements among an international audience. The presence of foreign visitors and observers was exploited to showcase the extent and scope of governmental policies towards universal education. On the other hand, world’s fairs allowed French reformers to acquaint themselves with school systems and teaching methods from all around the world. This permanent relationship with foreign experiences deeply shaped debates on primary and popular education in France, thus demonstrating the importance of the transnational dimensions of European school reforms.