This special issue examines the evolution and metamorphosis of humanities and languages teaching in France, Switzerland and Belgium during the 19th century. It focuses on the debates, controversies and multiple challenges raised by the progressive codification of literary and linguistic disciplines as regards the content of curricula, the training of elites and the construction of national identities. Based on recent empirical research, the contributions allow us to compare and better understand the different responses given to these problems in several cultural and historical contexts. They also highlight the transnational dimensions of European school reforms, and more particularly the importance of the circulation of ideas, actors and models between and across national borders.