Subclassing AbstractUser in Django for two types of users

I have successfully used the following solution:
1. Create SchoolUser class in models.py - this will be your AUTH_USER_MODEL class

TYPES = (('Student', 'Student'), ('Staff', 'Staff'), ('Parent', 'Parent'), ) class SchoolUser(AbstractUser): type = models.CharField(max_length=10, choices=TYPES, default='Student') 

2. Create users.py file and put whole users logic there. Have one abstract class that all others inherit from and which will implement the factory method:

class UserManager(object): def __init__(self, user): self.user = user @classmethod def factory(cls, user): """ Dynamically creates user object """ if cls.__name__.startswith(user.type): # Children class naming convention is important return cls(user) for sub_cls in cls.__subclasses__(): result = sub_cls.factory(user) if result is not None: return result 

Sample children classes (also go to users.py file):

class StudentUser(UserManager): def do_something(self): pass class StaffUser(UserManager): def do_something(self): pass class ParentUser(UserManager): def do_something(self): pass 

Views is where the magic happens ;)

def my_view(request): school_user = UserManager.factory(request.user) if school_user.do_something: # each class can have different behaviour 

This way you don't need to know, which type of user it is, just implement your logic.
I hope this is clear enough, if not let me know!