Though there are aspirations towards full coordination of the European Union countries' educational systems, educational structures of the individual member countries will always differ to a degree. All member countries of the European Union do have a national document or a national curriculum that details what will be taught in the compulsory education, and how it will be taught. It is important to mention the importance of the national curriculum in planning and organizing of how the schools function, including the development of the particular school's curriculum. Educational values, goals, competences and principles listed in the curriculum contribute to a better understanding and a coordinated planning of the schools' work and development (Ministry of Science, 2010). Considering the listed factors, the goal of this paper was to compare all 28 member countries of the European Union and discover similarities and differences in the primary and secondary education between the member countries and the Croatian educational system. Inspecting the gathered data, it is obvious that the duration of the primary and secondary education varies from country to country, and the same applies to the number of regular weekly classes. Also, all of the analyzed educational systems offer broad and versatile education that includes physical education. This class is compulsory in most of the member countries, both in the elementary and secondary education, and it is an important part in the children's education. Teachers occupy an important position in the educational process as well, as highly competent professionals specialized for educational work. Therefore, the entire development of the national curriculum includes more and more, and gives more responsibility to the educators, teachers, expert associates, principals and other important participants and users of the education. It is paramount to mention their role in the teaching process, especially when it comes to the physical education.