The aim has been to explore the meaning of the concept "social skills" from the perspective of principals and teachers that have a role in educational contexts. Using a descriptive design the technique of natural semantic networks was applied to a convenience sample of 81 subjects of the Araucania region-Chile. The results report that the definition of the concept is formed by: conversational skills, coexistence, empathy and solidarity. It is concluded that the identified skills benefit the generation of appropriate environments for learning and are transformed into a valuable resource to strengthen the training of students (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.