 Since 1990 the Jean Herbison Lecture at the New Zealand Association for Research in Education honours Herbison.In the 1976 Queen's Birthday Honours, Herbision was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, for services to education, and in 1977 she was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal.She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1985 Queen's Birthday Honours.