The main issue of this work is the study of the relationship between the development of Interactive Groups (hereinafter IG) and the acquisition of the social skills by the students of secondary education.

The IG have their origin in the projects of Learning Communities, which promote significant changes in educational practices in order to highlight the value of education (Lobato, 2010) and, like this, to minimize inequalities and social exclusion (Valls, 2010 ). The IG are based on a flexible classroom organization that promotes interactions among all members of the educational community. This way, the teaching-learning process is considered as a result of social interactions, cooperative work and dialogic learning (Elboj and Niemelä, 2010). In the IG methodology the students are not segregated by their differences, they remain in the classroom in which all the necessary support is given. Therefore, Learning Communities become into a social and educational transformation tool (Diez Palomar and Flecha, 2010; García Carrión and Díez Palomar, 2015).

The Interactive Groups are characterized by: implication of the education community on the formative process; heterogeneous grouping of students into small groups (4-5 people) with the presence of an adult (voluntary) in each group; increase of the students’ participation in individual and group learning strategies; personalized attention to the students through more direct and individualized monitoring; availability of wide human resources to attend the students; to be in favor of removing of competitiveness among students, because they share and collaborate assuming the teamwork responsibilities; development of the social skills, because the IG promote the establishment of relationships of affection and companionship, to look for common goals and removing rejection or discrimination; and the increase of students´ motivation and expectations, since this assumes that all have abilities to learn individually and are able to teach other members of the classroom. All these characteristics promote the development of inclusive strategies (Álvarez, González and Larrinaga, 2012) in the learning institutions.

In addition, social abilities are a set of very complex interpersonal behaviors that affect interaction with other people. Lack or inadequate development of social skills can lead to social rejection, isolation, and can present personal, academic, or psychological difficulties and even problems related to social maladjustment. From the school context point of view, a little importance has been given to social skills because the efforts are focused on teaching and education of other academic topics that are considered more relevant. In the last decades this view was modifying, mainly because the teachers have become more aware of the significance of the improvement of these skills for an adequate development and integration of students in their environment and society. Schools should take an active role as representatives of socialization processes. The professionals of education should be aware of the importance of students' school experiences, which, along with family experiences, influence their growth and progress (Llanos, 2006).

The interaction between teachers, students and people that are actively and voluntarily involved (Meloth and Deerin, 1999; Oliver and Gatt, 2010; Díez Palomar and Flecha, 2010) in the development of these strategies which are carried out through interactive groups and improved through dialog represent the framework of this work.

The general aim of this work is to identify through a descriptive and comparative study the relationships between the methodology by Interactive Groups in the classroom and the acquisition of social skills by the students of a secondary school in Asturias (Spain).

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