It is a truth universally acknowledged that education and economic development go hand in hand. Not only is lack of education generally recognised as a cause of poverty, it has come to be recognised as one of three core "dimensions of poverty", alongside living standard and health (World Bank 2016). Despite strong economic growth throughout most of the so-called "developing world", poverty persists, and at levels which are causing many observers to doubt the meaning of "development". It thus becomes ever more important to understand the relationship between equity and development. Here, Stephen Roche introduces in this first general issue of International Review of Education, brief descriptions of some of the original papers contained in the Apr 2016 issue. The authors of the first paper--Chavanne Peercy and Nanette Svenson--examine "The Role of Higher Education in Equitable Human Development". The next article "Sustainable Development of Phillipine Coastal Resources: Subsidary in Ethnoecology through Inclusive Participatory Education" Focuses on adult education in the Phillipines. The paper applies the principles of ethnoecology (the study of the relationship between society and natural resources) to adult education for sustainable development. Specifically, the authors--Joey Ayala, Pauline Bautista, Marivic Pajaro, Mark Raquino and Paul Watts--describe and evaluate a pilot adult education initiative undertaken to help fisherfolk better manage marine resources. There are both moral and practical cases for making poverty eradication a central pillar of sustainable development. Sudhir Anand and Amartya Sen expressed the moral argument succinctly: "Sustaining deprivation cannot be our goal" (Anand and Sen 2000, p. 2030). In a companion study to their paper in this journal last year (Mayombe and Lombard 2015), Celestin Mayombe and Antoinette Lombard examine the efficacy of material and human resources in non-formal education and training centres in "The Importance of Material Resources and Qualified Trainers in Adult Non-Formal Education and Training Centres in South Africa". The issue also provides a short research note which takes a critical look at "The New Language of Instruction Policy in Malawi: A House Standing on a Shaky Foundation." This paper by Gregory Hankoni Kamwendo examines a new policy that positions English as the medium of instruction from the start of primary education in a country where English is not the main language of household communication and many teachers struggle to use English as a medium of instruction.